Hellfire
by Kouhai Raven-ya
Summary: Ace is an undercover agent for the World Government's top assassination force CP9. His mission to infiltrate the Chicago police force and get close to the rough and rugged captain who also has his own mysterious past of heart break and loss. What Ace doesn't count on is forming a bond with the man whom he has sworn to loath for all eternity. Modern AU. Yaoi (boyxboy lovin') Rated M
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its very fabulous characters, although I wish I did…

Summary: Ace is an undercover agent for the World Government's top assassination force CP9. His mission to infiltrate the Chicago police force and get close to the rough and rugged captain who also has his own mysterious past of heart break and loss. What Ace doesn't count on is forming a bond with the man whom he has sworn to loath for all eternity. What will he do now? Modern AU. Contains Yaoi (boyxboy lovin') so if you don't like, don't read. Rated M

Pairings: Portgas D Ace x Smoker, Zoro x Sanji, Luffy x Nami, Robin x Franky, and many, many more ;^)

This is my first fanfiction, and my first yaoi, so please please please leave comments on what you like and don't like! Ive never published any of my writing before, so I would really love to know what you guys think!

**This story is in revision. 5-7-15**

* * *

Hellfire

Chapter 1

Ace's alarm sounded in an obnoxious pattern of beeps increasing in volume with every cycle until he leaned over on his side to smack the 'off' button, groaning into his pillow. He flipped onto his back again and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. Damn, he hated mornings…

Sighing, he rolled out of bed, and ran a hand through his messy bed hair as he padded into the kitchen of his new apartment. Ace made his way to the sink and felt his bare foot rush up against a mound of fluff. An annoyed growl soon followed.

Ace chuckled as his cat, who was basically just a grumpy ball of gray fuzz, staggered drunkenly toward the empty food dish. The cat glared evilly at Ace and gave an impatient "mowah" as the raven got a glass of water.

"Yeah, yeah, Fatty. Your foods coming," Ace said with affection, and proceeded to get the food.

He placed the food in the bowl and tried to casually place a hand on the head of the gray feline, only to draw it back sharply milliseconds before the cats fangs snapped the air where his finger had previously been.

Ace shook his head as he made his way to the bathroom and into the shower. He sighed again as the hot water ran over his tense muscles. Ace thought about the new 'job' he was starting today. More lies to live, more pretending. He turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist. As he dried his wet hair with another towel, he heard the faint 'ping' of his phone as it received a text message. He walked out of the bathroom and over to the night stand beside his bed. Flipping open his phone, Ace read the message:

_The boss wishes you good luck._

Ace gave an annoyed huff, snapping the phone shut, "'Good luck' my ass. This assignment is fucking impossible."

Towel around his slender neck, Ace opened the closet and looked dully at the suits that hung on the racks on one side and then at his own comfortable clothes on the other. _What to choose…_, Ace thought. In his line of work, impressions were everything. Can't spin a good story without playing the part, so he needed to be careful. One fuck up and the whole operation went to hell.

Reaching into the closet, he pulled out one of the monkey suits. _Rather be an overdressed prick than an under dressed prick, right? _He grumbled internally as he dressed himself. After brushing back his damp hair back, and he put his favorite pair of boots, Ace grabbed his brief case off of the kitchen table along with his keys. He shrugged on a wool coat and wrapped a very badly knitted scarf that Luffy had made for Ace when they were children around his neck. Ace shoved the keys in his coat pocket, checked the cat food dish one more time, then headed out the door.

* * *

The door to the police station slammed with aloud crack as the wind blew it shut, catching Ace in the ass. He hissed in pain and embarrassment, but either this happened quite frequently or the police staff were really dedicated to their work, because they didn't even acknowledge Ace.

He cautiously made his way toward a desk with a friendly looking woman. He stood there patiently for a few moments, waiting for attention, before he cleared his throat politely. The woman's short bob bounced as she jerked up her head from reading her paperwork, her unfocused brown eyes meeting his in slight confusion.

"I-I'm sorry. Can I help you?" she asked kindly, fixing the glasses that had slipped down her nose.

"Uh, I hope so. I'm Portgas the-"

"The transfer from New York! Yes!" she interrupted, clapping her hands in happiness, "We've heard so much about you! Please, I'll show to your office."

The police officer shot up quickly from her chair, ushering Ace to follow. She led him to a door at the end of a dim hallway, and opened it. The room smelled strongly of cigar smoke, the air slightly hazy.

The woman police officer waved a hand in front of her face, coughing, " I'm so sorry. Let me open some windows and get some fresh air in here."

Ace followed her into the smoky room. The office was a pretty decent size; the objects sparse. Only two desks and three large metal filing cabinets occupied the room. On the front of one desk was the name plaque 'Portgas D. Ace', but on the other desk the plaque was covered with dozens of papers scattered from the wind from when the windows were opened.

Ace turned to the woman as he placed his briefcase on the desks surface, "Thank you very much, Miss…?"

The woman waited a moment in expectation until she realized she hadn't introduced herself. "Oh," she blushed slightly, "I'm Tashigi! I'm an assistant of Captain Smoker."

_Captain Smoker_. Ace thought sourly, remembering the Captains file. "Ah, yes," he smiled coolly, "Well, it is nice to meet-"

Ace was interrupted for a second time as the door to the office slammed open, the wind scattering even more papers. Ace jumped slightly in surprise, but Tashigi grimaced in embarrassment as a burly man in a huge white over coat stomped into the office, stopping short when he saw Ace.

"Who the hell are you?" the man asked gruffly.

Ace didn't like the tone that the man used, and now he knew for sure that this was not going to go as he planned. This huge man seemed to fill the room with his presence. He stood there, with two cigars in his mouth, his thick white hair wind swept, and his face pink from the cold. Even without reading the man's file and studying it, Ace was sure that he would have recognized the authoritative aura this man held.

Ace cleared his throat politely and stuck out his hand, "Portgas D. Ace at your service, sir."

The man, who Ace recognized as Captain Smoker, looked down at Ace's outstretched hand, then back at Ace's face.

"So, you're the brat they sent from New York? Well, kid, Chicago is a hellva lot different the NYC," Smoker growled as he walked around Tashigi, and sat down at his desk.

Ace watched the man gather up all the loose papers on his desk and stick them unceremoniously in to a drawer, and locked it.

"Tashigi," Smoker called.

"Yes, sir?"

"Get those addresses for the two informants for today's meetings, and" He added as he tapped cigar ash into the tray on his desk, "get the kid some proper equipment. If he gets shot we wouldn't want him to bleed all over that pretty suit of his."

"Yes, sir, right away!" Tashigi complied, smiling at Ace as she left the room, the door shutting with a soft click.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room before Smoker snapped, "Shut those damn windows, brat. It's cold enough to freeze your balls off in here."

Ace begrudgingly did as the Captain asked, then went back to his own desk. Ace had thought this was going to be difficult enough to get on Smoker's good side, but actually having now meet Smoker, he realized he basically had a snowballs chance in hell in getting what he needed from the cigar smoking bastard.

The raven had no idea of how to approach Smoker besides through time, but that was time that he didn't have. The man was as clean cut as a cop could be. The Captains file described him as a hard ass cop that saw strictly in black and white. Smoker was known throughout Chicago as the White Hunter, a demon that didn't stop until the job was done. He was a man that accepted no bribes, and no surrender.

Ace draped his overcoat and scarf over the back of his chair, not bothered at all by the cold air in the room. He looked at Smoker who was opening his mouth to voice a biting comment, but fortunately it was cut off as Tashigi walked back into the office. She handed the Captain a Post-it note, and waited beside his desk.

Smoker's eyebrows furrowed as he read the scrawled words across the slip of paper. He looked up at Tashigi, " What? Why are you still here?"

Tashigi rolled her eyes as she adjusted the glasses on her face, "I need the keys to the armory, Captain. You wanted Mr. Portgas to have proper equipment?"

Smoker grumbled as he fished a set of keys from the pocket of his coat, and handed them to Tashigi.

The police woman then motioned for Ace to follow her, and guided him down a flight of steps that lead down to the basement. They walked along a short hallway and reached a wall that was made of cage. A booth was barricaded off to the side behind it.

Two young men sat in the booth, watching Ace with interest. The shorter of the two, a boy with pink hair, seemed to snap out of the daze first by calling, "Hi, Miss Tashigi! How's it going? Is that the transfer from New York?"

Tashigi smiled fondly, "I'm fine, Colby, thanks for asking. Hello to you to Helmeppo," Tashigi greeted to both boys, "Yeah, this is Ace. We are here to get him some gear."

Colby smiled, while the blond, Helmeppo, just glared at Ace, studying him. Ace gave them a polite half smile in greeting. Colby hopped out of the chair he had been sitting in as Tashigi unlocked the cage door. The pinkette walked over to the newcomers.

"It's great to meet you, " The teen smiled warmly and stuck out his hand to Ace.

Ace took the offered limb politely and shook it firmly, and then took in the room they were now standing in. "So," he asked, "This is the armory?"

Colby nodded eagerly as he lead Ace and Tashigi to another door and quickly typed a code in the code key pad. Ace mentally stored the code sequence in his memory as the boy talked,

"Me and Helmeppo are down here a lot, so, if you have any questions or need help, don't be afraid to come to us. Now," the pinkette clicked on the lights and gestured to the farthest wall of the room, "the vests are over there, and the weapons are all along the east wall."

Ace thanked the teen and walked over toward the displayed weapons. He felt Tashigi watch him as he grabbed the nearest gun and examined it, checking the balance, its weight and the feel of it in his hand. He put it down, not satisfied. He picked up another and another until he had examined at least seven different guns.

He turned to Tashigi, "I know that these are standard issued police weapons, but do you have something maybe more slender? The bulk and weight of these guns wouldn't let me fire quickly enough."

Tashigi seemed surprised at his question, but smiled broadly at him before she walked over to a locked cabinet. She unlocked it and withdrew another weapon, then she relocked the cabinet and went back to Ace, placing the gun in his hand.

Ace tested the gun in all the ways he had the others, and then nodded as he accepted it. "Feels good. Thanks."

Tashigi continued to smile at him like he had just won the lottery, and was starting to make him uncomfortable. He quickly walked back to the two teens in the booth and filled out the necessary paperwork before making his way back up the stairs to his and Smoker's office, Tashigi was in tow.

He reentered the office, running his fingers through his hair in mental frustration. This was going to take more work than he had originally thought.

* * *

Remember to please review! 3


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own these amazing characters...

Please remember to review! :)

**Revised 5-7-15**

* * *

Hellfire

Chapter 2

Smoker watched the brat come back into his office. He scowled. There was something off about Portgas D. Ace, and Smoker wasn't going to give up until he found out what it was. Smoker's gaze followed the freckled brat as he hung up the safety vest on a hook attached to the side of the desk. His gray eyes caught the gun hostered at Ace's side. Smoker raised his eyebrows at Tashigi, who had caught his gaze, and nodded her head in confirmation.

The Captain leaned back in his chair, and let out a huge cloud of cigar smoke. So, the brat passed the first test. It was an important one. A gun was as important as a heart if you were a cop in Chicago, especially these days. You were screwed if it failed when you needed it the most just because it wasn't the right gun for you. Even seasoned cops made that common mistake when chosing a gun. It didnt matter if it was 'cool'.What mattered was if you knew how to handle it. Maybe the rookie knew a thing or two about what the report claimed after all.

Smoker leaned forward again and stood, " We have a job to do. kid. Get off your ass moving."

Ace narrowed his eyes at Smoker before reaching for the vest. "You wont be needing that today," Smoker snapped,and walked out of the office. His chunky boots thumped against thr tile floor dully as he strode toward the station's door.

Ace caught up with him quickly, shrugging his own coat on the rest of the way, but left it unbuttoned. Smoker was going to roll his eyes, but was distracted when he held back a shiver as the icey wind blasted him. The older man grumbled as he and Ace made their way to Smoker's car. The car was old and had a dent or two, but Smoker took pride in how well he had maintained it through all its years of service. The inside of the cab was clean, and as Smoker slid into the drivers side, he could tell that Ace was surprised.

" This car is a piece or crap! Im surprised that it still can run," the raven exclaimed.

Smoker growled in offense. "Shut your trap, you ungrateful brat! You're lucky I don't make you walk!"

The damned brat had the balls to give Smoker a half ass smirk before turning his body away toward the window. 'That little shit,' he fumed silently. Smoker's car squealed out of the stations parking lot at a speed that was boarderline illegal. He made sure that Ace's head slammed against the cealing of the car as he purposely found the deepest potholes in the road, and sharpley rounded the corner, causing the younger man to crack his head harshly against the glass of the window.

The Captain didnt look, but he felt Ace's murderous glare on the side of his face as he hissed in pain. Smoker hid a satisfied smirk behind his cigars, and hoped that the rest of the car ride was as equally silent.

Smoker fished the Post-it note out of a pocket and read the bubbly writing that spelt out the directions of the first meeting place. He grunted and took a sharp left, racing through the alleyways and back streets that he knew would be the quickest route to get to the meeting place and cut a 15 minute drive into almost six.

He threw the car into park in a vaccant alleyway, and turned in his seat to Ace. The raven haired brat was still clutching onto his seat belt with white knuckles as he glared darkly at the Captain. A lesser man would've probably died on the spot if looks could kill, but Smoker was the White Hunter and was not intimidated by looks alone.

Smoker rolled his dark grey eyes and got out of the car. He stretched his arms above his head, cracking the fluid out of his joints and tossed his cigars onto the filthy alleyway before crushing them under his boot and walking down the alley. He yanked open the door at the end of the alley and went through, not waiting to see if Ace was behind him. Since the door didnt slam shut behing him, Smoker assumed Ace was near.

" I assume that you have been briefed before hand?" Smoker asked, not wanting to have to waste time explaining, as he lit a new cigar.

"Yes," Ace said as he rolled his dark eyes.

Smoker took a long drag from his cigar and chose to ignore Ace's tone as they continued to walk down the hallway. The heavy sound of bass vibrated and echoed through the walls, already giving Smoker a headache. 'God, I hate people,' he thought as he jerked the door open the door.

The strobe lights, music, and sweaty bodies threatened to spill out into the hallway. There was alot of people here for the middle of the morning. Didn't these brats have lives?

Growling in annoyance, Smoker shouldered his way toward the private boothes of the bar. He could feel Ace press closely against his back, making sure that they were not separated. The older man slid behind the curtain of the private both that the informant had specified. They were the first ones there.

Smoker watched Ace sit on the opposite side of the booth, looking around as he did so. Ace then reached across the table and grabbed a cigarette and a lighter from the offered glass on the table. He lit up casually, arching a slender eyebrow at Smoker as the said man shook his head without realizing it. Before Ace could say anything, the dark curtain was pulled back to reveal a tall man with dark red hair and three scars across his left eye. The man Smoker had come to know as Shanks sat down next to Ace.

" Smokie!" Shanks greeted the cop with a big smile.

"Shanks," Smoker grumbled flatly. " Portgas, this is Shanks. He's a reliable informant, and also the owner of this bar-"

"Club," Shanks interrupted.

Smoker resisted the urge to roll his eyes before he finished, "Shanks, this is my new partner."

Shanks half turned to Ace, who in turn gave the club owner a rueful smile as he held out his right hand in gretting. Shanks smirked in return and shook Ace's out stretched hand.

Shanks turned back to Smoker, "So, the info about Crocodile is in here," the cloaked man said quietly as he handed Smoker a manilla folder that he had pulled out of his black cloak. Smoker bit back a growl at the name.

Crocodile. Smoker gritted his teeth at the name, almost biting his smoke in half. God, he hated that bastard more then he hated anyone else. The first time Smoker had met Crocodile had been twenty-three years ago on that horrible night. It had taken another eight years to track down Crocodile again through an elite assassination group called Baroque Works, but when Smoker finally caught up though, he had given that bastard a reason or two to remember him. The damn reptile had been hiding ever since, working even more in the shadows then before.

The Captain took the filder from the red head and tucked it into his own jacket. Shanks stood, gracefully excusing himself by nodding at Smoker and Ace in a silent goodbye and giving them a smile and a thumbs up before heading out the booth. Smoker stood up himself, soon followed by Ace.

The younger man stubbed out his cigarette and said, "I gotta piss before we go, okay... Smokie?"

Smoker snarled and swiped at Ace, who nimbly dodged the older mans attack, and laughed at Smoker heartily. Smoker's ears turned slightly pink, from the heat in the room, he was sure, and snapped, "Well, hurry it up you damn brat!"

Ace rolled his dark eyes as he strode towards the the neon sign at the back of the club pointed to the bathrooms. After almost ten minutes Smoker was almosr bursting from impatience.

"What the hell is taking so long?!" He thought venomusly as he stomped around the corner to the bathrooms.

The Captain then stopped short, not sure what he was seeing, but he had a pretty good idea that it was supposed to be private.

Ace was arguing with a taller man,and even though Smoker couldn't tell what was being said, it was about something serious. The taller man was watching Ace intently. He followed the ravens agitated movements and started interrupting Ace, running his hands threw pale yellow hair. Ace started to wave his hands in front himself as if he trying to put distance between the men.

Suddenly the blond man grabbed Ace by the upper arms in... desperation? Anger? Then the man kissed Ace deeply on the mouth, pinning Ace to the wall behind them. Okay, so desperation, then... Smoker was jolted by the startled, outraged, and regretful expression on Ace's face, and was about to walk away , but the Captain's feet were stopped again as Ace brought up his knee and connected it with the other mans gut. The man crumpled with a groan, but still tried to grab Ace's wrist weakly.

"Please," the man rasped loudly, practically yelling as Ace turned away.

"Its no use, Marco. Whats done is done and theres no changing it." The raven's voice was cold as ice, but from where Smoker was standing, he could see the younger mans face was full of pain. There was a pause from Ace as if he wanted to say something more but seemed to decide against it and started to walk away.

Smoker scrambled backwards not wanting to be seen eavesdropping on what was now obviously a ex-lovers quarrel. He quickly placed him self in front of the bar and shoved two more cigars into his mouth. He was puffing like a chimney to hide his embarrassment. While he was trying to look as pissed as possible for Ace, two okama sauntered up to him. Great, another thing to try to drown out with a strong drink of whiskey later.

They were both scantly dressed and plastered in make up, but Smoker could tell from the poorly disguised bulges between their legs and from the false high soprano voices as on asked, " Hey there, sugar. You need someone to help keep you company?"

Smoker's brain went blank from an overload of embarrassment as he blushed for the second time that day, his face turning a dark shade of red, as felt a body press into his back and drape an arm around his shoulders.

"Sorry, sweetie, but he's with me," Ace drawled lazily, smirking cheekily at the men in drag.

Then, as if to emphasize his 'claim', Ace ran a hand down Smoker's chest till he was in between the older mans legs and squeezed. Smoker yelped, he was ashamed to admit, but couldn't move as Ace held him in place.

The two hookers huffed and sighed in disappointment, but turned to shuffle away in their ridiculously high shoes.

When they were gone, Smoker shoved Ace away roughly. " What the hell, you brat?!"

Ace just shrugged, and laughed. "Don't make it so easy to take advantage of you, Smokie." The tease sounded forced, making Smoker remember what had transpired only minutes before.

The Captain took a drag from all three cigars in his mouth at the same time and blew all the smoke in Ace's shitty, freckled face. Damn him. Smoker stomped away from Ace and proceeded back the way they had entered the bar. Damn him to hell.

* * *

Heehee. These chapters are coming in floods but it takes a while to type it all out. Phew!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own these wonderful characters, even if I love them all dearly... :'(

**Revised 5-7-15**

* * *

Hellfire

Chapter 3

Ace couldn't help but smile inside at Smokers reaction to Ace's attention in the bar. God, it was so easy to get the smug bastard going. Ace needed a distraction to get the incident with Marco out of his mind. He couldn't think of that part of his past right now, it was too painful.

So, Ace decided as he watched Smoker in front of him, that torturing the Captain would be a part of Ace's new game. The raven shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat as he followed smoker back to the shitty, rattling death trap he called a car.

He slid inside the cab and buckled up, waiting for Smoker to follow suit. The White Hunter crouched low as he got into the driver's seat, and slammed the door shut.

"So, old man, where are we going next?" Ace asked, looking at the Captain with a sideways glance. The pink from Smokers embarrassment had been fading, but it was quickly renewed, as the Captain snapped gruffly, "Shut your mouth, you shitty, brat! I am NOT a old man! Show some damn respect."

Ace pouted mockingly, as he reached towards Smoker, and twirled a tuft of older mans practically white hair around his finger. Ace was surprised at how soft it was. "Could've fooled me. You sure act like a crotchety old man. "

The Captain smacked Ace's offending hand away from him, twisted the key in the ignition, and sped out of the alley without even looking for cars. Ace was careful with not banging his head on the roof of the car as it rounded the corners of the streets that Smoker took sharply on purpose. After a few moments of tense silence, Smoker spoke in his deep voice.

"Now, we are going to meet my second informant. He's a real slick bastard, and can take information out of a person without them even realizing it. He might not look it, but he is as dangerous as they come, so I want you to keep your damn trap shut. I won't risk you pissing him off or giving away shit that he could use."

Ace grumbled out the window, "I am NOT a child, you know. I've dealt with people like that all my life."

Even now he was dealing with them... the raven had to block out all the unpleasant memories that threatened to flood his mind. He was trying so hard, that a headache was starting to form. He unconsciously started to rub his temples in an attempt to lessen the ache.

Smoker didn't reply. Instead he flew through a couple of intersections before pulling into the parking lot of a sketchy looking warehouse. He turned off the car, and got out. Clouds of smoke filled the air as Smoker took a drag from his three cigars and let it out.

Ace mentally shook his head in disbelief. Smoking that much could not be healthy, he decided. Ace then got out of the car and followed Smoker. The hair on the back of Ace's neck and arms rose in warning. His internal alarm system was screaming to get the hell away from the warehouse, but he just followed Smoker through the rusty door and into the open room of the warehouse.

The raven's heart jumped as he reached for the gun in his holster belt, his eyes adjusting to see a man step from the black shadows of the warehouse and into a shaft of sunlight that filter through a window. Smoker gestured to stand down.

"Who's the snot nosed kid, Smoker?" The man asked in a gravelly voice. Smoker introduced him, but Ace didn't pay attention because he was taking in the man in front of them. The man was tall, but extremely fat too. His greasy, curly black hair hung to the mans shoulders, and gap to smile added to the man's creep factor. His stomach hung out of a ugly Hawaiian shirt, and his hairy legs were covered partially by baggy shorts. Ace shuttered internally. This guy was disgusting, but Ace could tell by the glint in his dark eyes, and the way that he held himself, that he was as dangerous as Smoker said.

"Well, let's hope that he lasts longer than your last partner, eh, Smoker? " The man laughed without humor.

Ace could see the Captains shoulders stiffen, and his jaw clench. He was puffing out cigar smoke at regular intervals now, looking like a damn chimney. After a few tens minutes,Smoker finally spoke.

"Do you have something to say? If not, then coming down here was a fucking waste of time, Blackbeard."

Ace widened his eyes. This greasy haired creep was the Marshall D. Teach, leader of the notorious gang of Blackbeards? What was Smoker doing talking to someone like him?

Blackbeard smiled at Smoker without warmth, "Don't need to get your panties in a bunch, Smoker. I've got good, solid info." He glanced around before stepping over to Smoker and giving him a crumpled piece of paper. "Be there at that address at midnight. On Friday 3 weeks from now a huge hand off is going down. I've even heard it on good authority you-know-will be there. Along with Dolflamingo."

Ace could see the light shaking of Smokers hand as he took the paper Blackbeard gave him. Whether it was from anger or anticipation, Ace couldn't say, but he could tell that whatever it was, Smoker was excited.

Without a word, Blackbeard walked over to Ace, his foul breath washed over Ace's senses as he whispered, " It's a shame you are a government dog, kid. If you ever decide to grow a pair, my door is always open."

Ace gave Blackbeard a wide eyed stare, suppressing the urge to step away from the dangerous man. He knew about CP9?

Smoker didn't notice the exchange because he was studying the paper in his hand. So, by the time he looked back to Ace, Blackbeard had already moved on, long gone from the warehouse.

After he put the piece of paper in his pocket Smoker tossed out his three cigars, and stomped them into the concrete. "Come on, let's get out of here. " And Ace was more than happy to get away from this creepy-ass place. He all but sprinted to the car.

When they pulled back onto the street Ace asked, "Was that a meeting place for Crocodile?"

Smoker just nodded, placing in unlit cigar into his mouth.

Ace had a hundred questions going through his mind, but the one he voiced was "What did Blackbeard mean when he said that he hoped I lasted longer than your last partner? What happened?"

The Captain's grip on the steering wheel tightened on the wheel. The creek of the leather was the only sound in the cab for a good two minutes until Smoker finally spoke, "They died and that's all there is to it. Don't get killed and you'll be fine, now shut up." And Ace could hear the pain and Smokers voice in those words, so he didn't push his luck.

Instead he thought about what motives that Blackbeard would have for helping out a cop like Smoker. Ace knew there were only two things why a gang would go to the cops: protection or gaining something in return. The first seemed very unlikely. Black beard looked like he was a man that could handle himself, So, he must have something that he could gain by helping Smoker.

Ace racked his brain. Smoker did not accept bribes, and he had a reputation for hating gangs and the underground world with a passion, so what Blackbeard had given Smoker about Crocodile must be pretty important to the Captain. It had to be if the man was working with scum like that creepy gang leader. But the question was what did Blackbeard hope to achieve if Crocodile was taken down?Then it hit him.

Crocodile was one of the seven gang leaders under the rule of the World Government. He was part of a group called the Seven Warlords. If Crocodile was taken down, then the government would have to find a suitable replacement in a short amount of time. They would need a man with power, good connections,and a very good reputation with the underground world. Blackbeard wanted to be that man.

The more Ace thought about it, the more sense it made. The Blackbeards had been building up their game for only three years now, but they were already one of the most powerful gangs in Chicago. The greasy, fat bastard wanted even more power, so what better way than to become a Warlord and take Crocodiles share of the Grand Line?

Ace had a very bad feeling form in his gut the more he pieced Blackbeard's motives together. Ace was positive Smoker was fully aware of the gang leaders plans, but he chose to play into the enemy's hand. Why? The raven couldn't help but have a feeling that Blackbeard was the harbinger of bad things to come. And he did not want to be around you to find out...

XXXX

Ace's second morning was much like the first. Wake up, shower, and get dressed. Oh ,and feed the cat of course. Ace decided to take Smokers unspoken advice and just wear his normal clothes. Plus he had had a piss - poor night sleep and didn't want to piece together a presentable outfit.

Ace just slept on his favorite pair of faded dark blue jeans and a cotton dark red v-neck t-shirt. Satisfied, he put on his jacket, badge, scarf and gun, then headed out the door into the freezing November morning. Gosh, it was so fucking cold! Even Ace, who was naturally warm blooded, felt the effects of the wind chill.

As he took his 15 minute walk to the station he came across the small cafe he had passed on his way to work the morning before. He decided he would get himself a nice hot coffee to warm him up. As Ace looked at the menu on the wall behind the counter, he decided he'd get old Smokie a coffee too. " I'll take two hot coffees. One hazel and one french vanilla - actually make the hazel extremely hot - and a Boston Cream donut, please.

After recieving his orders, he thanked the cashier, paid, and then left for the station. He was careful with the door this time, and was thankful for the piping hot coffee in his hand. When he opened the door to the office he found Smoker with a foul expression on his face.

"And a good morning to you too." Ace gretted dully, not wanting to hear what the grumpy captain had to say.

" You're late, Portgas, " was all he said.

Ace placed the cup of hot coffe on Smokers desk and said in mock sweetness, "Was just getting you a cup of coffee, Smokie,dear." Smoker scowled. "I'm on to you,Portgas."

The said man's heart jumped, but his face remained unreadable. "What, do you think I spiked your coffee? I promise my intentions were nothing but honorable." The last part of the sentence was preceded by an eye roll.

"Portgas D. Ace," Smoker said coolly, "I knew I had heard that name before. So last night I did some research - "

"You read through my files?" Ace asked, but inside he was relieved. There was nothing about his recent activities in it.

"Yes, Fire Fist, I read through your file," he placed a manila folder that was almost paper thin on the desk, "But I couldn't find anything. So I looked into some old records from almost 10 years ago and found all this," and he slapped a very thick pile on top of the thin one.

Ace's heart was in his throat.

"It seems you had quite a reputation as Fire Fist Ace, leader of the WhiteBeard gangs second division." Smoker said after taking a long drag of his cigar. "Arson, mostly, but also theft, and several convictions of murder, though none were ever proven. The only recent thing I found was this," he held up a clipping from the newspaper. "This article is over 6 years old and says that you were pardoned fully by the World Government in exchange for your full cooperation and helping them with some sort of coup in Chicago."

Aces heart was pounding. Lucci said he had gotten rid of all the evidence of his past affiliations as fire fist. Well, no problem. All that Smoker had said was common knowledge.

Ace took a sip of his coffee then lean toward Smoker and smiled despite his racing heart, " Is there a point you are trying to make?"

Smoker blew a cloud of smoke in Ace's face before answering, "I. Don't. Trust. You. Something is off about you, Fire Fist. Men like you don't change, let alone work for the guys who they had previously dedicated themselves to piss off, unless they had a reason." The air will stick with tension, and Ace hadn't even been here 10 minutes. Ace opened his mouth, but before he had the chance to speak, Tashigi burst into the office.

"Smoker, sir! Mr. Portgas!" She said a little breath. " What is it, Tashigi?" Smoker asked sharply, getting to his feet. "There's a huge fire on the corner of Elm and 3rd, sir! Back up has been requested immediatly!"

Smoker and Ace didn't waste any more time talking. They rushed to the car and Smoker turned on the siren as they sped out of the parking lot. The car raced down the street, and even from where Ace and Smoker where in the car, Ace could see smoke circling over the buildings. When they made it to the scene of the fire, Smoker and Ace were a ushered through the police barricade and parked with the other police cars. Ace climbed out of the car and rushed over to the nearest police officer. "What is the situation?"

The officer pointed at the flaming building. Firefighters were frantically trying to tame the fire, but being once a professional arsonist, Ace could tell that it was pointless. The fire was too far gone.

" We were able to be evacuate the residents before the fire had gotten too bad-"a man started to explain, but was ignored by Ace as his eyes caught on a woman.

"My son!" the woman screamed at the same moment Ace saw a suspicious looking man dart between the people and buildings.

He couldn't help but smirk. Fire bugs always wanted to their work in person. But his gaze was drawn back to the screaming woman. "My son! My son still inside the apartment!" She was yelling to the police officer holding her back. "Please, help him!"

"Im sorry, ma'am, " the policeman was saying, his face full of regret, " but the fire is too strong. The building is about to collapse." Ace looked at the people being ushered to the ambulances, then back at the burning building. He made a quick decision.

"Hey," he interrupted the young cop that had been talking to him. He told young man to give Smoker a message. "Got it?" He asked after he was done. The cop nodded briefly before asking, "But, sir, what about you?"

Ace shook his head in dismissal as he raced toward the firemen. He whipped off his coat and saturated it in one fluid motion, then jumped through the parting flames and entered the burning building. He used the coat as barrier between and himself and the flames as he scaled the stairs. Covering his nose and mouth with a the damp coat sleeve, Ace made his way to the first floor. The door to each apartment that he shoulder open was empty. The second floor was the same.

"Hey!" He shouted, "Anyone here?" He called and called into each room as he coughed. When he got to the fifth door on the third floor, the smoke was so sick now he couldn't see his hand in front of his face, only the orange red light from the flames flickered around him. And the harsh crackling of the burning building around out almost every noise.

He paused and strained his ears as he thought he heard muffled cries. "Hello?!" He called again, and again he heard the soft cry.

He took a step toward the sound but the floor gave away and its almost fell through. He grabbed a hold of a hot metal pipe jutting out from the wall to keep him from falling into the flames below. He hissed in pain as his hand was burned. The faint smell of chard flash reached his nose, but Ace held on and pulled himself up and on to the other side of the hole.

From there he strode and made his way towards the noise that was getting louder the closer he got to the closet. Tried to open the sliding panel to the closet, but it was jammed. Ace ripped off the door in frustration and fear but was instantly relieved when he saw a six year old boy huddled in the corner of the closet. The boy cried with joy when he saw Ace and wrapped his little arms around his saviors neck with a tight grip.

Ace threw the heavy coat over the child and knew from here that there was only one way down. "Hold on tight, kid," he coughed as he backed up as far as he could to get a running start. It was now or never.

" Ace, you stupid brat, get your ass out here!" Ace could hear old Smokie's pissed off voice as he started to run toward the window.

"Well," he thought, "Here I come."

* * *

Please remember to review, guys! i write alot better with encouragement! ;) I'd love to hear from you! Also, I apologize in advance if updates are late because I have to type everything on my phone. It just takes FOREVER sometimes. Well, I hope you liked this chapter and I hope that I can continue to please all of you awesome people. XD


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: One Piece and its awesomeness are not mine to claim!

Thank you soooo much for the reviews! Its not like it makes me happy or anything to see them you stupid jerks! *totally a Tony Tony Chopper thing to say* X3 Thank you so much for reading!

**revised 5-7-15**

* * *

Hellfire

Chapter 4

Smoker was talking to the fire chief when he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned to see a young cop named Kohza.

"Yes?" he asked annoyed.

"Sir!" He said, "Mr. Portgas has asked me to inform you that the perpetrator is fleeing south on 5th street!"

Smoker was already moving to his car, but snapped "And why couldn't "Mr. Portgas" tell me this himself?"

"Because," Kohza pointed towards the building, " He ran inside the building to save a kid, sir!"

Smoker stopped, "WHAT?!" He roared.

The young police officer's eyes widened as Smoker yelled harsh profanities. "That dumb ass!" Smoker exclaimed, " That son of a bitch!"

He pointed to Kohza. "Take two squad cars and get that fire bug! Got it?" Koza nodded, standing there awkwardly. "Then what the hell are you waiting for?" Smoker yelled, "GO!

Kohza stumbled backwards in fright, stuttering into his walkie talkie. While Smoker stormed over to the building, his heart was beating rapidly in his chest. That stupid, freckled faced brat! What the hell was he trying to prove? The captain forced himself to calm down by taking a deep drag from his cigar. After several minutes of attemptted relaxing breaths, Smoker was just as ready to storm into the building and kick Ace's ass himself as when he started.

He grabbed a megaphone from nearby man, who then started to protest until he saw Smokers face. The said man lifted the megaphone and shouted as loud as he could, his gruff voice ringing out. "Ace, you stupid brat, get your ass down here!"

The building seemed to shutter. One of the windows exploded out, the glass starting to rain down on the spectators. People started to scream and yell in fear until one voice rang out, "Look! Up there!"

Smoker looked up to the building and saw a figure dropping through the air from where the window had exploded. Ace... Smoker thought. All the captain could do was watch in horror as the figure continued to drop. Smoker watched Ace angle himself toward the tree and crashed into the foliage before grabbing one of its branches in an attempt to avoid meeting the ground. Smoker hadn't realized he had stopped breathing until he let out the pent up air in relief when the raven safely drop to the ground.

The sight of the paramedics rushing to his partner moved him into action. He ran over, watching as Ace dropped onto the cloth trampoline below him. Smoker saw a bundle being lifted from around Aces neck, and taken to the nearest ambulance. When Smoker reached Ace, the freckled face son of a bitch was smiling, but Smoker looked at the brats body in horror. Blood and clear liquid ozzed out of the various lacerations and burns that covered his body .

"Hey, Smokie?" Ace croaked softly.

"What?" He asked harshly, relief being replaced by anger at Ace's stupid recklessness.

Ace raised a shaky arm as he was loaded onto the stretcher and pointed in the direction of the bundle. "It was for my nakama, my family."

Smoker swallowed as he watched the bundle being cradled and kissed by hysterical parents. When he turned back, Ace was being loaded into the ambulance and taken away.

XXX

_It was for my nakama, my family._

It had been almost 3 days since the day the fire started. And either Smoker had been assisting in the investigation of who started the fire (Kohza had failed to catch the man), or Smoker had been obsessing and pouring over the information he had received from Shanks and that bastard Blackbeard. But through all of these things, Ace's words kept going through Smokers mind over and over again.

He dragged a hand over his face as he unlocked the door to his house and stepped inside. He was so tired. The early morning sun filtered through Smoker's empty house as the said man dropped his things lazily on the kitchen counter before heading to the bedroom. On the way there he pulled off his coat and shirt, dropping them carelessly in the hallway. When he got to the bedroom, the captain dropped face first on to the queen size bed in just his jeans and boots. Then the boots hit the floor with a thump soon after.

Smoker groaned tiredly into the soft pillow and flipped over on his back. He threw in arms over his eyes and groaned again, but for a totally different reason. Why couldn't he get that stupid, freckled faced kids words out of his head? Whenever he thought of Ace, the brats soot covered grin entered his mind. And whatever he saw that grin, heat went straight to his groin. His mine went unbidden again to the night before the fire.

Smoker had gone home as usual at around 11 that night and had promptly fallen asleep. His dreams had been great because he had been pounding a really sweet piece of ass, but when the person underneath him turned to cry out, Smokers saw Ace's face sweaty and pink from pleasure. Smoker had jolted awake after that, his bed wet with his release, and didn't dare fall back asleep. Instead, he spent the rest of the night at the station researching everything he could find out about Ace, and the rest was history.

He still he couldn't believe he'd had a wet dream about Portgas D. fucking Ace, but his hardened member did. Smoker palmed his throbbing erection through his jeans to try to calm it down. He groaned again as Aces face resurfaced. God, he needed to get laid, but this was just pathetic. He knew next to nothing about his new partner, but when he looked at Ace he felt a jolt of... well, hell, of _something. _Whether it was lust, or the sexual frustration, he couldn't say. All he knew was that Ace had something that attracted him to the brat.

Only after thinking of the most disgusting sexual image could imagine, was Smoker able to calm his erection down. God, how he hated that fucking brat.

Smoker lifted up a new cigar to his mouth, but set it back down. He really needed to get some sleep. He looked over at the digital clock on the nightstand and saw it change from 5:12 to 5:13 a.m. He decided something and set his alarm before he laid his head against the headrest and closed his eyes...

Smoker hadn't realized he had fallen asleep until the persistent beeping of his alarm jerked him awake. The clock now said 10:00 p.m. He sat up and stretched his arms high above his head. Satisfied, he stood and shuffled sleepily to the adjacent bathroom, yawning heartily.

The older man rubbed the back of his neck as he turned on the hot water in the shower, waiting a few seconds before stripping off his jeans, and then stepping in. The first few moments in the cold water woke him up, then to heat relaxed him. He was there in there for over 15 minutes before he stepped out and grabbed a dark blue towel to wrap around his waist.

Next he wiped the steam covered mirror and began to lather his face with shaving cream. After he was done, he wiped his face clean and brush his hair and teeth, then went back into the bedroom to get dressed.

Smoker usually didn't care about things like looking good to other people, or even being polite, but tonight he was going to forget about Ace or he'd be damned. So, Smoker pulled out an outfit that Tashigi had bought for him a few months ago. The jeans were stylishly faded and torn, and the black long sleeve shirt clung to his muscular torso and arms "very nicely" according to Tashigi. He pulled on his brown leather jacket and boots before grabbing his keys from where he dropped them earlier on the counter, and headed out the door.

Smoker wasn't even paying attention to where he was going until he realized that he had pulled into the alleyway right behind the bar that he and Ace said visited that first day on the job together. 'Upper yard' he thought it was called. Well, regardless, he was here, and this place was as good as any. He walked down the hallway through the same door as he had the other day, but right now it was much more crowded.

Smoker walked with a purpose over to the bar, and ordered two glasses of whiskey, and sat down on a stool. He looked over at the stage and choked, nearly spitting out his drink at the site before his eyes. No one other than Portgas D. Ace - the man whom he was trying to forget- was up on the stage, dancing with a group of possibly wanna be hookers.

"Dear, God, " he prayed as he shook his head, "if I did something in a past life to piss you off, I'm truly sorry... " When Ace started rolling his hip suggestively to the music, Smoker finished his drinks, then got up and slapped money on the counter, preparing to leave.

He movement must have caught someones attention because as he turned, he felt a hot hand on his shoulder. He almost cringed as he saw Ace standing there, smiling that dumb ass smile.

"Hey, Smokie! You weren't going to leave without saying hello where are you?"

Smoker jerked his shoulder out of Aces grip and growled. "As a matter of fact, I was."

Ace pouted, crossing his bandaged arms across his shirtless chest. "Awww, that's not very nice, old man."

Smoker ignored Aces jibe. "What the hell are you doing here, anyways, Portgas?" Ace flashed him another smile, "I was discharged earlier this afternoon. I was really disappointed when you didn't come to visit me, Smokie. I was so bored with only the hot nurses to keep me company..."

The older man was about to say some not very boring words when Shanks came up behind Ace and dropped his good arm gently over the ravens bare shoulders. "

"Any problems, gentleman?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Smoker stuck a cigar in his mouth and lit it for an answer.

" No, Uncle Shanks. Nothing at all." Ace said happily.

The Captain nearly bit his cigar in two. "Uncle Shanks? You two know each other?" This day just kept getting better and better.

"Yeah. Shanks isn't really my uncle, but he practically raised me and my brother." Ace explained happily. His pink face and slightly slurred speech indicated that the police officer was a little buzzed.

"And you didn't think to tell me this the other day?!" This was too embarrassing.

Shanks shrugged, removing the arm from Ace. "You never asked."

Smoker mentally face palmed himself. "Well, is there anything ELSE I should know?"

Shanks and that ass-hat Ace looked at each other, then back at Smoker. "Uh, nope. Not that I can think of... " Shanks said. "Well, I'll let you to get back to talking."

Smoker opened his mouth to protest, but Ace loud voice came out first. "Sure thing, Shanks! Thanks a lot!" He waved to the departing redheaded before turning back to an already leaving Smoker.

"Smokie!" Ace called in a whiny voice, "wait for me!"

The older mans jacket was grabbed and Smoker unconsciously slapped the hands away. He heard Ace hiss in pain, but he was too angry to care. That stupid brat hadn't even work with Smoker for two whole days and the raven already pissed him off beyond belief. Just like Hina used to... The thought made him stop abruptly. It was so sudden that Ace crashed into Smokers back.

Smoker whipped around, " We might have to tolerate each other in the office because we are partners, but outside of work I live my own life. Don't come near me, you understand, brat?! Stay the hell away from me!"

The club seemed to get really quiet, but Smoker didn't notice.

He stormed out of the club and out onto the brightly lit street. God, his heart was beating so fast he wouldn't be surprised it pounded right out of his chest! He should not be feeling this way about Ace God damn it! He was annoying and reckless and smug and everything Smoker fought against! Smoker would never admit, but he couldn't think properly around Ace!

And he HAD gone to see Ace in the hospital! But even just standing next to a sleeping Ace was too much right now. He had to get himself together. He was 32 years old for shits sake!

He tried to take a drag from his cigar, but even that didn't help. Frustrated, he took the cigar out of his mouth and threw it in the nearest trash can. 'Damn it all,' he thought as he walked down the street. His hands shoved in his pockets, Smoker made his way to the nearest intersection and pushed the button for the crosswalk, waiting impatiently for the light to change.

Out of the corner of his eye a pair of figures approached him. He turned slightly to see who it was. Could this day get any worse? He groaned to himself as he took in the two figures before him. It was Eustass Kidd and his second in command, Killer. His heart sped up though at the thought of a battle.

The men stopped just a few feet away from Smoker. After a moment the blond spoke.

"Well, well. If it isn't the White Hunter?"

Kidd's red lips stretched across his face in a grotesque smile as he said, "Yeah, Smoker, what you doing in these parts of the city,hmm?"

Smokers hand went for his gun, but it wasn't there. Son of a bitch! He had been so focused about not focusing on Ace, that he had forgotten his weapon. Killer looked sideways at Kidd. "Looks like it's our lucky night. The good old captain is off duty. No weapon to fight back with."

The two men took another step towards the harmless Smoker. At least that's what they thought. What they didn't know was that the anger humming through Smokers body was making his blood boil, and that, in fact, he was looking forward to fighting the two men in front of him. He was anything but harmless.

Smoker smiled at them with a wolfish grin as he cautiously backed into the alley behind him. "Why don't we take this somewhere else?"

Kidd and Killer simultaneously followed Smoker through the dark alleyway until they were in the back streets, and the only thing around was a flickering street lamp.

Kidd slipped on his brass knuckles and Killer withdrew his wicked looking blades.

"You have no idea how long I've been looking forward to this, old man." Kidd growled like a predator. Killer nodded in agreement, his blade looking dull in the shadows.

Smokers heart was pounding with adrenaline, and with anticipation. His body was tense, his stance begging for a fight.

"Hurry up," he growled, "I'm tired of waiting to kick your asses." The young men seemed happy to oblige, sprinting toward the captain.

Easily Smoker dodged Killers two knives, and caught Kidd's fist in his older man jumped away quickly as Killers knives descended, the tip of one of the blades grazing the top of Smokers thigh. But the said man barely noticed as he caught Kidd's punch again, then landed his own punch to the man's strong jaw.

Several minutes Smoker fought this way, and each punch in jab gained force and each knife cut hurt less and less.

"Come on, brats," Smoker taunted, wiping away the stream of blood that dripped steadily from his nose. "Im just getting started."

Kidd straightened up after recovering from the latest to Smokers have the upper cuts. "This is bullshit!" The redhead spat angrily, clearly fed up.

Killer panted beside him. "Let's just get out of here, Kidd." He said, sounding as if he had enough also.

"No!" kid barked, "That son of a bitch has had this coming for a long time. I'm not wasting this opportunity!" Kidd drew a gun from behind him. "I wanted to do this by hand, but it seems that this old man is just too much trouble." He raised the gleaming gun barrel to Smoker. "This way will just have to do."

The gun fired twice as Smoker went to dive behind a parked car. Footsteps pounded on the pavement before more shots where heard. Then the footsteps came towards him and his hiding place. So this is the end, Smoker thought as he leaned against the car.

Smoker clutched his left shoulder and when he pulled his hand away it was sticky and dark with blood. If he died like this, Hina would never forgive him, but Smoker was more sad that his life dream went unfulfilled. That bastard Crocodile was going to walk and that dumb fucker Ace was going to get himself killed because he was too fucking reckless. His eyes snapped open at the thought of Ace,but he quickly shut them again because the spinning ground was too much.

After a moment the captain clenched his teeth. No, he was not going to die tonight! Fuck Hina, fuck Ace, and even fuck Crocodile! He was going to live because he wanted to! Smoker rose to his feet, both hands clutching at his wounds. He only made it a few feet before almost falling over. The brick wall he was leaning against was his only support.

The footsteps were getting closer now. Where those bastards coming back for more? Despite his injuries, Smoker turned quickly, a growl coming from his throat, his arm pulled back to punch.

"Whoa, there, Smokie. Easy," Ace's worried voice said before his face came fuzzily in into view.

"What the fuck do you want, Portgas?" Smoker snapped, but his words lacked their usual venom.

His eyes begin to droop, the warmth was starting to leave his body. 'Damn it,' he thought,' Tashigi's going to kill me for ruining these clothes...'

* * *

Heehee. I hope you like this chapter, guys! Ive been just writting and writting and writting like crazy! I hope that my well of ideas doesnt dry up anytime soon! Haha. Ive even begun an idea for another story. So many good things to be happy about xp


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: One Piece and its characters are not mine. Nor shall they ever be unless I win the mega lottery ( but probably not even then sooo... yeah basically never...)

Thank you guys for your Supah support! I honestly cant remember anytime where I've written this much of a story in a few days and still have more ideas and still be interested in it. I think most of my inspiration comes from reading the other stories like your guys's. Shishishi! Thanks for reading!

Warning: this has a little fluff in it, I guess, if you can call it that. I have no idea what some might deem to be fluff...but yeah. Oh, and Lucci is a bastard. He sorta, kinda rapes Ace. Its at the very end, though, AND IS IMPLIED. So if you dont like it, dont get your panties in a twist. I needed an ending so PLEASE DONT JUDGE ME!

* * *

Hellfire

Chapter 5

"Damn it," Smker groaned, " Tashigi's gonna kill me for ruinning these clothes."

Ace wanted to chuckle, but he could see that Smoker was in bad shape and loosing too much blood. Ace was glad he had been there in time to chase off that bastard Eustace and his lap dog. Who the fuck knows what could have happened.

Ace looked around instinctively to see what he could use as a bandage to bind Smokers wounds. There was nothing around. Hell, he was practically naked himself, with only shorts and boots on in the chilly November night. The only thing to use was Smokers shredded leather jacket.

Ace gently peeled the jacket off of Smokers bloody body, using his softest, most reassuring voice. The man was practically unconscious from the pain by the time the jacket was off. He saw were the wounds were bleeding the heaviest and tried to tie them off as best he could. Ace took Smokers arm and put it over his shoulders, helping his boss to his feet.

"I don't need your help, you fucking brat," Smoker swore at Ace. "I don't need you OR Hina... I'm fine by myself. I've always been fine by myself..." The raven ignored the jibe until Smoker had said Hina. Had 'Hina' been his other partner? Ace shook his head. No time to worry about that now.

He practically had to drag Smoker back to the alleyway where he had parked his car behind Upper Yard. Ace placed Smoker as gently as he could in the front passenger seat, then patted Smoker down for the car keys, but couldn't find them. Pressed for time, he hurried around to the driver side and hot wired the car. Ace decided to drive to his apartment, it being the nearest and also because before Smoker went to the hospital, he needed to have the massive hemorrhaging problem fixed.

Thank God Ace's apartment was on the first floor and not many people were out that night, because he was pretty sure that it would have been suspicious if he was seen carrying on conscious, playing man into the apartment. He was also pretty sure that would classify as something "above the radar" according to Lucci.

Ace clumsily unlocked the door and stummbled as he hauled a very heavy Smoker into the tiny apartment, and sat him upright on the couch. The raven quickly put a pan of water on the stove to boil and rushed to find the first aid kit he had packed away in the numorous boxes littering his apartment.

"Where are we?" Smoker asked, sounding a little dazed. Ace continued to rummage through the boxes, "My place." "Oh," was all the older man said. Then, "Thats a nice cat." Ace was getting anxious now. WHERE HELL WAS THE FIRST AID KIT?! There were to many fucking boxes! "Yeah. Real nice." Ace said absently, "Dont touch him though because he'll bite you as soon as look at you..." FINALLY! Ace thought as he pulled the desired kit out from under some packing peanuts and turned toward Smoker.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, his jaw almost dropped. There, on the couch next to Smoker, was Ace's vicious, devil cat incarnate whom Ace had owned for years. "What the fuck!" He exclaimed as he glared at the fat grey cat. Smoker petted the purring cat and asked, "Whats his name?"

Ace shook his head in disbelief as he watched Smoker and his new friend. "Sinbad," The raven said sourly, "Like the pirate. " A cold,heartless bastard. He added in his head.

Smoker didnt acknowledge Ace's reply. He just continued to pet the cat as Ace brought the now boiling water and kit over to the couch. The raven placed the hot water ontop of an oven mit on the floor and then proceeded to disinfect the needle and thread he would use to patch up Smokers wounds.

The younger man happily broke up the cat man duo by shooing Sinbad away with hiss and a couch pillow to the face. The cat stalked off with a huff and a hiss at Ace,disappearing into Ace's bedroom.

Ace crouched and began to cut away the jacket and Smokers shirt. He cringed when he saw the multiple knife wounds, but was glad that they were the least serious of Smokers injuries. What worried Ace were the two gunshot holes in smokers left shoulder and side.  
both were bleeding profusely and Ace was surprised that smoker was even a live. Ace stood and gently leaned Smoker forward. The bullet hole in the shoulder had gone straight through and missed the bone. He sighed in relief, and but sucked it back in when he realized the second bullet wound was not so clean.

Smoker moaned in pain as Ace leaned him back word against the couch. " I'm going to patch up the bullet wounds first, okay? The first one went clean through, but the second one I'm going to have to take out. Smoker, do you need something to bite down on? Its going to hurt like a bitch." Smoker groaned in pain and Ace took that as a yes. Didn't need to the nosy neighbors hearing all the noise going on in here. The older man excepted the gag in his mouth without complaint.

Smoker screamed harshly as Ace started to work on the shoulder wound. He frowned as noticed a jagged scar stretching from Smokers left collarbone to the top of his left peck. Ace wondered briefly what it was from but shook his head to clear the thought away before he leaned the older man forward again, cleaning the back, and stiching up that as well.

Ace could feel Smokers muscular body tense under his fingertips with every gentle touch and press. Ace couldn't help but wonder how great the Captain would be in bed, completely healthy. He smiled stupidly at the thought, but frowned again as Smoker cried out in pain. So Raven then proceeded to dig out the bullet buried in Smokers side.

Smoker forced himself not to writhe in pain, but he could tell that the older man was losing consciousness. " I'm sorry," he said worried, hoping that he wasnt hurting too badly. "I'm sorry."

Finally, the bullet came out. Ace cleaned and stitched it up the hole and then cleaned and binded Smokers torso in clean bandages as quickly as he could. The Raven brushed back his hair from his face with the backs of his bandaged hands and sighed in relief.

Smoker was asleep for now, his breathing regular and deep. Ace wasn't a doctor, but he knew enough to know that smoker was out of danger now.

Whil the older man slept, as creepy as it sounded, Ace had the chance to think about the man who he was going to have to befriend, then have to betray. Ace closed his eyes and leaned against the wall across from Smoker. Ace had to break down the man's barriers and then seep into every aspect of the Smokers's life first. The Raven sighed. If becoming a friend didn't work than Ace would have to seduce smoker and that was something he would rather not do. For his and smokers pride.

Ace was tired of this game of deciet that had started over 5 years ago. Once, Ace had been proud of what he did, proud of who he was. He had once had nakama, had once had a family. Luffy... the Raven thought tiredly. All of this was for them, for Luffy. If Ace couldnt protect his own little brother, his only family left, then he had no right to call himself a man.

This thing with CP9 was wearing Ace down. He had befriended and killed so many people, but he still remembered every one of their faces as they found out who he was, what he found out and what he was going to do to them. No strings could be left loose. That was his job: go where he was needed, gather the info, finish off the target, report back to Lucci and repeat.

Ace shivered at the thought of CP9s top agent Rob Lucci. The man was a heartless bastard with no emotions to speak of. The only time he showed any interest in anything was when he used Ace for his S&amp;M experiments. Ace shuddered at the memories, scars from Luccis sharp nails on Ace's body throbbing with hate. He pushed the emotions down.

"No room for emotions, no room for friends. That stuff wasn't part of the job." Ace's mantra for the past 6 years had been this phrase. He had stuck by it, lived by it. Its rules were ones he never broke... Until he met Smoker.

Smoker was the first person in awhile to really rub him the wrong way, yet intrigue him. The man had made Ace curious since he had first received this assignment. He had known of smoker, of course, but about Smoker? The man was basically a mystery. Nothing before joining the police force 10 years ago pops up in any of the records. It was like the guy had sprouted from the ground.

Something that Smoker knew or possessed was of great importance to Lucci if he wanted to risk Ace coming back to Chicago. He hadn't been specific of what kind of information he wanted Ace to collect, but that was probably for the best. Smoker had a reputation for smelling out rats in the police departments.

The less Ace knew for now, the closer he could get to Smoker without arousing suspicion. Plus if he could take out a few gangs that threatened Luffy, what better way than with the White Hunter? Even cp9 intelligence could only go so far.

Ace opened at his eyes and looked at his own bandaged body. They were covered in Smokers blood and his own. He got up slowly, not wanting to wake Smoker, and grabbed the first aid kit. Heading over to the sink, Ace slowly and unwrapped his injuries, hissing in pain as the scabs cracked and new blood and liquid oozed out.

He did his torso first, that wasn't so bad. It was mostly cut some some minor burns and he'd had much worse, but what fucking hurt was the hand that he had grabbed the pipe with. The skin was hard with scabs and every time he moved by finger the skin with crack and puss would come out. He flicked on the faucet and shoved his over heated hand under the running water. The doctor had said to soak it for 15 minutes in the morning and an hour at night in the cool water with only a little ice.

He grabbed a big bowl from under the sink and stuck it under the water and placed his hand in it when it was full enough. Then he awkwardly grabbed an ice cube tray from the freezer while still trying to hold the bowl, and dumped all the ice in the water. The liquid got immediately cooler.

The heat in his hand was still there, but the water made it bearable. He walked back over to the couch that Smoker was softly snoring on. Well, he thought, as he looked at the sleeping Captains face, if I do have to sleep with him, at least he is a man I would fuck with or without instructions. Ace leaned forward dnd took in a long breath to catch the other mans scent in his nose. The man's natural musk mixed in with cologne was almost irresistible.

If Ace hadn't been holding the bowl, he would have reached out to touch the older mans soft, white hair. Maybe if they had meet under different circumstances, or maybe in another life, things would be different. They couldve been friends or maybe something more...

"What are you doing?" Smokers sleepy voice asked loudly. Ace jumped back, his heart almost stopping, and tried to act like he hadn't just been smelling the handsome Captain. "N-Nothing. I thought you stopped breathing, but, uh, it was just my imagination."

Smoker just looked at him with half lidded eyes. "You should still go to the doctors." He said as he shifted the bowl in his arms. Smoker grunted and stood up slowly, his abdominal muscles bunching up with his movement.

" Are you well enough to drive? Your stiches should hold up until the doctor can take a proper look at you." "I don't need the doctor's" Smoker said gruffly. Ace lifed up his leg and placed his boot against Smokers uninjured shoulder, pinning him to the couch.

"You need medical attention. Only God knows what substances were on Killers blades." Smoker grumbled something Ace couldn't hear. "What?" Ace said. Smoker replied, highly annoyed. "My medical insurance can't cover it!" Ace relaxed and withdrew his leg. " Oh, well if that's all, I know a doctor that will take you for free."

Smoke I looked at him dubiously. "It's true," Ace laughed as he insisted. Ace put the bowl down and carefully dried his burned hand. He took a piece of scrap paper and a pen to scribble down a message. "Here, ask for Dr Chopper and give him this." Smoker took the piece of paper and read it, curious. He raised an eyebrow. "Really?" "What? He really does only a favor."

The older man rolled his eyes and stood unsteadily. "Woah, there Smokie. " Ace said as he tried to help Smoker. The captain smacked Aces hands away, "I stand by what I said earlier," he said gruffly. "Stay out of my personal life."

Ace hissed in pain as Smokers hand hit his burned one. That ungrateful... He breathed in deeply and out as he clutched his hand. "Its for the mission, its for Luffy." he repeated 3 times before trusting himself to speak. "You really can say that to me after I just saved your fucking life?! Why are you such a bastard?! Some fucking way to treat a friend." Ok, so maybe he should have said it a few more times...

The last part came out in a small groan as Aces hand throbbed frantically in pain. He placed his hand back in the water and forced it not to clencth as the cold water seeped into the open skin.

He felt Smokers eyes on him as he soaked the pulsing limb. "How is your hand?" The older man asked unexpectedly, and moved closer to Ace. "Its okay," the Raven mumbled, still pissed at the man's attitude. "You know youre covered in my blood, right?" Ace forced himself to suppress a shiver as a Smoker's breath tickled his ear. "Yeah, but it's mostly on my pants so... I can just... wash them."

His breath was becoming irregular as Smoker gently ran a finger along the new bandages Ace wrapped his arms in. Was Smoker... flirting? " You are such an idiot," Smoker said as he withdrew his hand.

Ace should have been mad, but the Captain's words had no bite to them. "Yeah. I'm kind of known for it." Aces heart was beating a little faster, knowing that Smoker was half naked and so close to him. The Captain seemed unaware of the effect he had on Ace. It made him think: when HAD Smoker start having this effect on him? Ace knew when almost immediately. When he had been in the hospital for the first two days he had watched the news whenever he had been awake. Smoker had always been there, along with all the officers at the precinct they could spare. He was right alongside them, working way past his breaking point and without made Ace look at Smoker a little differently. He could tell that Smoker really cared about his teammates and that the Captain hadnt earned his reputation by words alone.

Ace took his hand out of the bowl and turned around to get it bandaged. The water hurt his hand too much now. Smoker was right behind him and when Ace turned all the way around, the top of the Ravens head reached just above the other man's chin.

"So," Smoker rumbled, "We're friends now, huh?" A small smirk graced his lips. "Yeah, I guess so," Ace breathed, not having the will power to move away. He hadn't realized how much he wanted to be friends until Smoker said it like that.

All Ace had to do was tilt his chin up a little and their the lips would touch... No! He scolded himself. You can become his friend. You can gain someone's trust it out sleeping with them!

"Do you have my keys?" Ace blinked in confusion. "Er, your what?" Smoker rolled his eyes as he stepped away, the spell breaking. "I asked if you had my keys." "No..." Ace said slowly as he got hurt his feelings and thoughts out of the gutter. "I had to hotwire the car. Sorry."

He stepped further away from Smoker and over to the bandages in the first aid kit. He struggled for a few minutes before Smokers big hands brushed his good one away.  
"Let me do it," he grunted "You're doing it all wrong. The salve has to go on first..." Ace watched Smokers face as the man's cool fingers ran over Ace hot skin. The hand was wrapped quickly and Smoker backed away again.

"Well, it's not like I've never hotwired the car before so I'll be fine. Goodnight." He turned to leave and opened the door. Without looking back he said "Your ass better be at work tomorrow. You're not getting paid to pole dance." Ace opened his mouth to protest but Smoker was gone. The Raven watched out the window instead till Smoker pulled safely out of the driveway.

* * *

Someone else was watching Smoker leave the driveway too, but this someone was someone who watched everybody. Rob Lucci pushed himself off of the house across the street and walked lazilt toward. Aces apartment. He rang the doorbell and it took a moment for Ace to answer it.

The tall man made his way inside after the raven opened the door wider, and moved to the side. Lucci smiled coolly at him as Ace shut the door but didn't move. "What do you want, Lucci?" Ace asked without emotion.

Lucci eyed the bloodstained couch then Aces bandages. "Having a party?" Lucci asked instead. The younger man didnt say anything. When Lucci continue to stare, Ace just stood there on comfortably, debating what to say. Finally the truth one out. Lucci listened to the tale, most of which he already knew of. Aces expression didn't fool Lucci expert eyes though.

Lucci reached out his arm and stroked the side of Ace face as he said the words that the raven least wanted to hear. "I want you to seduce him, Ace." The Ravens this stiffened under the other mans touch. "I can do the mission without being a slut, Lucci." Ace said coldly, but didnt not pull away. Ace new very well what would happen if he did. "Oh, I know," Lucci conceded, but continued with a human humorless mark, "But I've seen some of your best work when you're whoring around."

The flash of anger is Aces eyes was all Lucci needed. He had Ace pinned to the wall by his wrists in a matter of seconds. He shoved a knee inbetween the ravens legs and kissed neck. Lucci squeezed Aces bandaged wrists harshly. Ace cried out in pain and Lucci shoved his tongue into Aces mouth, kissing him roughly. Ace cried out in muffled pain as Lucci's grip tightened. Tonight was going to be fun.

* * *

Please remember to review you guys! Your words are inspiration! :)


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue! Capiche?

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile guys! Ive had this chapter written for awhile but getting around to typing it has been alittle difficult because of my finals coming up. I also apologise for the last chapters paragraph of spelling errors! God damn that was really embarrassing! I was half asleep when I was typing it out but that is no excuse! Anyway, thanks for reading and all that. :) It makes me happy to know you guys like my stuff! :D

* * *

Hellfire

Chapter 6

For the next two days Ace avoideded Smoker like he had the plague. Smoker was a little confused. Hadn't the brat said they were friends? Not that it really mattered to Smoker either way but the way Ace had showed up to work the next day after that night made him a little concerned. The older man noticed that there was something wrong and pointed it out. "Mind your own fucking business!" Had been Aces testy reply.

Smoker almost groaned in embarrassment as he remembered the way he had touched Aces bandages and how close their faces had been. He felt his blush reach his ears. Was Ace mad at his actions? How had things come to Smoker worring if he had offended the damn rookie? The captain didn't want to think of the freckled brat so he threw himself into getting ready for the drop that was a little more than three weeks away. He was going to fucking nail that bastard Crocodile this time.

Ribbons, pictures, and news articles were conected by different color string in seemingly random dots on Smokers maps. He planned and ran through scenarios, scoped out the place where the drop was going down all by himself. There were very few cases where Smoker and Ace had to be together, and even then they usually did their own thing.

But even though Smoker tried to stay consumed, the stupid brats laugh, and his stupid footsteps had Smoker on edge. He tried to convince himself that this was better, that this is what he had wanted. When he spoke to Ace that night about being left alone, this is what he had had in mind. But Ace had been the one to pursue the friendship, so why had the Ravens stopped now? The captain didn't know what to think of it, frankly, and he didn't know if he wanted to know the answer.

Finally on the beginning of the third day Ace brought Smoker a cup of coffee. He raised an eyebrow as he let out a cloud of smoke from his cigars. "You finally done PMSing, you shitty brat?"

Ace scowled, "Shut up, you bastard. You're lucky I even graced you in my thoughts." Smoker resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Ace sat down and Smoker picked up the coffee.

"How is your hand?" The captain asked despite himself. Ace stilled at the question and grabbed the burned limb by reflex. "Good. And you? Hows your... shoulder side?" Smoker took a sip of coffee. "Great. The doctor you recommended did a great job." He tried to think of something else. Anything else. "Is he really only 17?" Ace nodded. "Yeah. Graduated high school at 13 and spent the rest of it in medical school. He's recently been for certified as a legal doctor, so I thought you should be the guinea pig." Ace shot Smoker a forced smile.

The older man glared at the raven as he drank the coffee. "Are you going to the party next Saturday?" The brat seems startled. "Party? What party?" This time Smoker did roll his eyes. "GarpsbThanksgiving party? Its in two weeks. If you had actually let me talk to you these past few days you would know." Smoker let the edge creep into his voice. The younger man seemed to cringe a little at Smokers words.

"Listen, Smoker, I..." Smoker stood up, having had enough. The position was clear. "I don't want to hear it, Portgas. Your excuses aren't worth shit. Get you head out of your ass and get over your damn mood. We have a job to do." Smoker tossed the finished coffee into the trash can and walked out of the office.

"Smoker," Ace called, "Smoker, wait..." a loud crash came from behind him. He turned around quickly despite his anger. Ace was face down on the floor, the chair on its side next to him. "Hey, brat," Smoker growled around his cigars, a little nervous, "Don't dick around."

When Ace didn't respond or even move at all, Smoker walked over and poked him none to gently in the side. Not even at twitch. Smoker was a little concerned now. "Hey, Portgas!" He slaps the freckled man's face. No response. The older man turned him over and put his ear to Aces chest. There was a heartbeat, but it was faint and the captain didn't feel any breathing. Shit, Shit, SHIT.

The captain could do the only thing he could remember when someone wasn't breathing. He crushed his cigars under his boot, and plugged the Ravens nose. Smoker toke a big breath, and put his lips to Aces. He felt a blush creep up his neck as he tried to give a some rescue breaths. After a few he felt the man under him jerk and twitch. Smoker open his eyes - when did they close? - and looked into Aces face.

The older man quickly released him and stood. "What what the hell, Smoker?!" Ace demanded, wipping his mouth with the back of his hand.

He let out a relief breath, but replied highly annoyed, "Well you just collapsed on the floor and you weren't breathing! What the fuck was I supposed to do?"

Ace rubbed the cheek Smoker had slapped as he looked up at the captain. A flick of his tongue across his full lips made Smokers heart almost stop. "I was just asleep, you dumbass. Its called narcolepsy. I have pills to help prevent it, but I still have episodes sometimes."

Smoker remembered reading about something like that, he just hadn't given it much thought. "Well," Smoker snarled offended, "Excuse me, you shitty brat, for being concerned." He turned to go, but he felt a hand grab the arm of his coat sleeve. He turned, jerking out of the touch instinctively, and almost backed up when he saw the Ravens say so close to his. His lips parted in surprise and he saw a still his head toward Smokers...

The door burst open, causing the partners to shoot in separate directions. Tashigi stood in the doorway. "Sir, there was another fire downtown, but the fire department was able to catch it before it got too bad." Ace was the first to recover. "Okay, thanks, Tashigi," he said, his voice even and controlled.

Smokers brain was still trying to process what almost happened, though. Had Ace just tried to kiss him? Impossible, right? He mentally shook his head as he put a fresh the cigar into his mouth and lit it.

He walked over to the wall, his brain already processing the problem at hand. He looked up at the board full of strange pictures and newspaper clippings. "Downtown, you said? What's the address?" He turned to look at Tashigi and she in turn looked at the slip of paper and her hand.

" It says 37 Grafton Street. It is -well WAS- a chemical plant that was abandoned sometime last year after the man who owned it went bankrupt." Smoker turned and pushed a blue pen on the address on the map, then connected it to the fire from earlier from the last week with a string. He looked to his assistant again, "Tashigi, I want you to get me every fire- big or small - that has occurred in Illinois over the last 10 years."

He watched her go, then studied the map again. After a few moments Smoker spoke, still looking at the board, to Ace. "As fire fist, brat, you only went and lit up stuff that made an impression, right? Cause as crazy as it might seem, you didn't just stupidly light random buildings."

"Ah... yeah," Ace said slowly. After a moment the raven asked " Why, what are you thinking?" Smoker didn't answer, instead his mind was exploring new possibilities. Tashigi re-entered the room, glasses perched on her head and held out the papers to Ace. "Here are the papers, sir." The older man sighed, "Tashigi, I'm over here."

"Oh!" The said woman squeaked in embarrassment as she stumbled over to Smoker. He scowled with affection as he shoved his assistants glasses back on her nose, her eyes re focusing. "Here you are, sir."

He ignored the offered papers and instead showed her to the board. "I want you to mark all the fires with pins and then connect them in chronological order with red string along with any articles in the archives that you find, all right? Get Coby or that brat Helmepo to help you." Tashigi nodded and Smoker grabbed the freshly made car keys from the hook by the door and made his way to the car.

When he didn't hear the Ravens what steps he paused at the station door, shook his head in resignation and howled, "Portgas, get your ass moving! I'm going to need your help!" The door closed behind Smoker as he walked to the car and unlock the driver side door. He looked up and saw the freckled faced brat was making his way toward him.

The older man took a long drag of his cigar and blew the smoke out the window as he waited for the younger man to buckle up. "Why do you smoke those nasty things?" Ace questioned, his sentence puncuated by a harsh cough. "Its a habit I picked up when I was younger. Better than the drugs, I guess."

He felt the Raven stir beside him. "Have you always lived in Chicago?" "Well, aren't we chatty all of the sudden?" Smoker questioned back, sarcasm lacing his words heavily. After a moment he answered, "No. I moved to Chicago about 15 years ago. Before that I lived in a coastal town called Water 7."

He saw Ace nod his head out of the corner of his eye. "Thats a nice city. When I was in Water 7 a couple of years ago I met a crazy old lady named Kokoro. God, seeing her in a bikini still gives me nightmares, but that woman could really drink her liquor." Smoker couldn't help but laugh at the ravens words. "Does she still have that damn rabbit she's insists is a cat?"

Aces voice was smiling as he said "Yeah. She has granddaughter named Chimney and she taught a frog the front crawl." Smoker shook his head as he started to chuckle but stopped. Memories flashed in his mind like a slideshow on a projector. Bad memories, ones he did not want to think about. The car soon lasped into silence, both men thinking about not thinking of the past. After a few more minutes of driving they reached downtown.

The older man pulled in between the police barricade and parked. The two men in the car got out and slipped under the yellow caution tape. People were snapping pictures for evidence in booking, further in a group of cops were in a circle around something. The captain took another drag of his cigar as he made his way over. "What's all the fuss about?"

His gruff voice made the policemen jump, but they quickly stepped aside. There in the middle of the circle was it man, handcuffed. He had curly black hair and abnormally long nose. The man seemed to be shaking in his boots. Smoker raised an eyebrow questionably. "Who is this?"

The man looked up at smoker with fear. "The man who started the fire," one of the men said. Smoker look to dubious. "I told you I didn't do it! I'm the one who called it in!" The man demanded, his high voice was filled with panic. The captain stepped forward and inhaled deeply. "Well, Long Nose, you smell heavily like gasoline and you're covered in soot."

"That's because I was tackled into two gallons of gas! I told them I know who did it, though, but they won't believe me!" "Ah, save it for interrogation, Long Nose," The arresting officer said. "Hold on a minute," Ace said as he stepped out from behind Smoker.

The captain noticed that the cuffed mans eyes widened in recognition as he look at Ace, but then it was gone. "Excuse me?" The officer said. Smoker gestured for the officer to stand down. " Portgas is an... expert in arson cases. What is it, Ace?"

The said man walked over to the long nose and helped him stand up. "Uncuff him," he commanded. The officer with the keys hesitated before smoker nodded to proceed. Ace wipped off the other man's hands and studied them for a moment. "This man isn't the arsonist." The cop who made the arrest visibly bristled that Aces words. "Look at his hands," Ace said, "They are almost perfectly smooth. If he was an arsonist then his hands would be covered in fire burns. Plus," he added as he looked over the officer who was turning red with embarrassment, " If he says he knows who did do it he might have a picture or video or something, right?"

The long nose nodding frantically at Aces words. Smoker knew that what he said was true, but he also had a feeling that the freckled brat knew the long nosed man. "Well," Smoker rumbled, "Do you have any proof?"

Long Nose squeaked as he stuttered, "O-on m- my phone. Its a blurry pic-picture, but there's a logo or -or something."

The captain held out his hand for the phone and an officer handed it to him. He opened the screen in the lock screen popped up. He looked at the long nosed man. "Th-the password is SniperKing," As Smoker tapped in the keys in the lock opened up he asked, "What's your name, kid?"

"Ussop,sir. Ussop Sogeking." The man replied as he hid behind Ace. "Alright, Ussop Sogwking, tell me, what were you doing down here in the first place?" Smoker asked again as he clicked on the photo gallery icon.

The most recent picture was as Ussop had said. He did manage to snap a photo and although it was blurry, the logo tattooed on the man's arm was clear. It was the emblem of Donquixote Dolflamingos gang.

"I was going to the scrap yard to get metal to weld. I am an artist." Smoker scanned some other pictures on the phone and decided what the man said was true. The pictures on his phone showed several sculptures, some he recognized in being in some very expensive art exhibits throughout the city, and Ussop handing them over to the buyers with a happy smile on his face. There were even pictures of him and some kids, and a beautiful blonde woman.

He shut the phone off. "Alright, kid. Sorry for the trouble, " he apologizes he tossed over the phone to the curly haired man. He caught it with surprising dexterity. The officer who had cuffed Ussop handed the long nosed man his wallet, apologizing as well.

"Its- its okay. You were just being thorough." Ussop stuuttered. He looked at Ace, "Thanks," and said and then hurried off in the direction of the scrap yard.

Smoker shook his head as he turned around to the men. "I want a full sweep of the area. Look for anything that links with Dolflamingo." The men scrambled into action. When they were there for two hours Ace started to wine, "Smokie, I'm hungry." " You're always hungry." Smoker said gruffly. "Yeah, but there's nothing in this junk. We've combed it, like, four times."

Half an hour worth of whinning later Smoker finally snapped, "Alright, you fucking brat! Just shut up! " "Great!" Ace smiled, but Smoker noticed it was without humor. "I know a great place not far from here!" "You? Know a place?" Sometimes Smoker forgot that Ace had grown up in Chicago.

Ace led the way and 10 minutes later they were in front of a place most men only dreamed of eating at. "The Baratie?" he asked in disbelief. "Yeah! The foods the best, and the cooks pretty cute, too." Ace replied cheekily. Smokers stifled a groan as he followed Ace through the pristine doors.

"Don't you need reservations to get into a place like this?" "Yeah," Ace said with a shrug, "but if you know the right people..." Ace started but a big man with Popeye arms stood behind the podium and blocked their path. "I'm sorry, sirs, but the restaurant is closed till 2." "Awww, don't be like that! I know Zeff and his son! Ace exclaimed. The man huffed in disbelief. "If I let everyone in who said that then this place would be packed from floor to ceiling."

Smoker watched Ace peer around the burly man and squeal as he spotted the waiter. "SANJI!" He leapt right over the velvet rope and Smoker watched in embarrassed horror as Ace latched onto the blonde, unsuspecting waiters back. The man stumbled under the sudden weight, but stayed standing.

"Luffy, you bastard! I told you to stop doing that!" The blonde yelled, managing to buck Ace off. Smoker rushed past the burly man who had become transfixed on the scene before him, ready to stop the blond waiter from pounding in Aces fucking face, even if the raven DID deserve it.

But as the waiter brought his leg up to kick his gaze caught on Ace. He stopped and asked in shock, the cigarette almost falling from his lips. "Ace?" "Sanji, you bastard! Great to see ya!" Ace wrapped the waiter, Sanji, in another hug. The blonde blushed and forced Ace off of him. Then he lifted his leg, this time swinging at Aces head.

Smoker just stood there for a moment, confused, as Ace dodged the kick,cackling like a madman. He managed to entrap Sanji in another hug then unabashedly squeezed the other mans ass. Both Sanji and Smoker blushed Ace danced out of the way again before the blonde could say anything. At this point he decided that any hit that Ace got, he deserved it.

"I see these buns are still fresh from the oven,eh, Sanji?" He leered playfully. "Is Zoro still keeping them warm?" Smoker saw Sanji's face turn beet red and swung his leg again. "Ace, you shitty bastard!" He screeched, "Where the hell have you been! You could send a fucking letter once in awhile!"

Even through the insults that were thrown back and forth, Smoker was transfixed by the pure happiness that showed on Ace's face. Smoker had never seen that look of openess on Ace before. That made him realize once again how little he knew the raven.

Finally the two men calmed down and stopped fighting. Ace seemed to remember Smoker and waved him over. Smoker cautiously approached. When the waiter turned, the captain could see that the blonde was very good looking. The only out of place thing was the man's curly eyebrow. The blonde hair was the color of spun gold, hanging styled over his left eye, and his pinstripe suit hung on his body beautifully,accenting his long legs. Smoker couldnt help but wonder: was he another one of Aces ex-lovers?

"... Sanji," he was saying," this is my partner Smoker. Smoker, this is my friend Sanji." The blonde eyed smoker, racking his visible eye over the man in front of him. Finally the man spoke, "You must be pretty good for Ace to introduce you. I hope that he lets you sleep at night. Ace can be pretty slutty sometimes."

It took Smoker a moment to process sanji meaning, but when he did blushef harshly. "No! Its not like that! We're partners in the precinct we work at!" The older man said for almost frantically, trying to clarify. He looked it Ace for back up, but the asshat was pouting. "I resent that statement, Sanji. I'm not a slut." Sanji laughed.

"Oh, and I suppose that being fuck buddies once has given me no insight to what you you're like with your toys?" Ace continued to pout, but then laughed as he took off his coat. Smoker noticed he was wearing a white shirt that allowed the tattoo on his left arm to be seen through the fabric. Smokers sat down as the two men ask each other questions about there lives, trying to catch up. He felt odd feeling form in his gut, but before he could clarify it, his cell phone rang.

"Excuse me," he mumbled, standing up. The other two didn't even pay attention as he walked out side into the cold air inside. "Hello?" "Sir," Tashigis voice sounded a little warbled over the phone as she spoke, 'I wanted to wait for you to come back, but Sir, there is something really strange about the fires that you requested to be tagged..."

Smokers heart start to pick up speed. "Okay, thanks, Tashigi. We'll be there in an hour. He hung up and quickly went back inside the warm building, wanting to tell Ace. When he got back inside, the man at the front was gone, but the other two were still talking. Smoker stopped when he realized the voices were not so happy anymore.  
"... Why did you bring him here? I don't understand!" Sanji was saying. Smoker could see that they were completely absorbed in their conversation as he peeked around the corner. "Sanji, its okay. You guys have been three steps ahead for ages! Now you-" "That's not the point, Ace!" Sanji hissed venomously, leaning over the table toward Ace. "Have you been working for the World Government so long that you have forgotten what they did to you? What they did to Whitebeard?!"

Ace slammed his hand on the table, making the crystal clack together. He rose slowly, towering over Sanji as the blond man sunk down, realizing he had crossed the line. Smoker had never seen a face look so dangerous, he looked like the heartless criminal the paper said painted him to be.

"How could I forget, Sanji?" his voice was low, almost a whisper as he said darkly, "Amost my entire family was wiped out in a single night! You are the only one who knows what I've had to do to protect the rest of them, and I want to keep it that way! I busted my balls off to keep Luffy safe, but what does that fucking idiot do? I tell him I forbid him to enter a gang, so the minute I go away the bastard goes and starts one himself! How do you think that makes me feel, Sanji? Knowing my little brother is screwing around with some of the world's most dangerous criminals? I know you guys stand up for what you believe in, but that just puts you guys at the top of the radar. Keep in mind, Sanji," he narrowed his eyes, "That I have been in this game for a very long time. So take my advice and convince Luffy to settle down a little."

Smoker took in Aces words. Sanji... That name did ring a bell, Luffy did too. His eyes widened in realization. Ace's little brother was the leader of the Straw Hat crew! The feeling that had been forming in Smokers gut earlier had been suspicion. The man in front of him was Black Leg Sanji, no doubt about that. He was the only man Smoker knew that used his feet as a weapon. Straw Hat Luffy was wanted everywhere in Illinois, along with his crew. Most of them had big bounties on their heads, along with wanted posters. Smoker would stake his reputation that the long nose man from earlier was part of the crew too!

The captain's mind was drawn back to the conversation, "I'm calling on my favor to Luffy. I want you guys to DISCRETLY dig up some dirt on him and for me." He saw Ace hand Sanji a slip of paper. The blonde raised his curly eyebrow. "Blackbeard? What are you into, Ace?" "I can't say, Sanji, but it's really important, okay?" The blonde cook nodded and put the piece of paper in his breast pocket.

Smoker had to quell the urge to stalk out there and beat the shit out of Ace. To use Ace by letting him use whatever knowledge of the gang underworld was an advantage that Smoker didnt have by himself. After all, he didnt make deals with gangs if he could help it. Blackbeard was the exception because he needed to keep an eye on that man too. Like hell the bastard would ever honor his end of the deal. If Ace wanted to know something about Blackbeard it was just as important as information about Crocodile. After all, Blackbeard was waiting Crocodile to fall, to pick up the mantle of warlord.

If Acee wouldn't tell Smoker, then the older man would find out himself. Something was there just below the surface and if it was about Crocodile or that bastard Blackbeard, then Smoker was resolved to do almost anything to find out. A thirst for justice and revenge boiled in his blood.

Smoker wasnt a fool, though. He suspected that Ace,too, had his own motives because if he could gauge anything solid out of the over heard conversation it was that the raven hated the World Government and everyone in it. Like hell he would do anything willingly to help them. As he knew from the start, he would have to keep a very close eye on the brat.

When the raven had walked into Smokers precint he had recognized Ace as a man who knew very well of pain and suffering. He knew of Aces past with his crew and how everything had gone down in flames. Smoker also knew the pain of losing your nakama and everything you believed in. Things like that you never forget. And you never, ever forgive.

He straightened his braod shoulders as he backed up silently. Thats why he was who he was. He knew the cops were crooked and cheap. And He knew that the World Government was oppressive to say the least. He also knew that the men of the underworld never really changed. Smoker was still in the precinct he was in because he chose to stay. He couldve been in almost any postion in almost any place he choose but his heart and duty were here. He had a job to do to bring the bad men down, to bring justice. Justice was his mantra and Smoker would do whatever he could to bring it. Even if that meant turning a temporary blind eye to someone like Ace until his usefulness was done.

* * *

I am sorry about my updates once again! I was gone all weekend riding the worlds fastest, most terrifiing pee-your-pants rollercoasters in the world! GO KINGDA KA!

I look forward to your reviews and comments with happiness! X3 Love ya all bunches!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own One Piece or its amazingness ( if that is even a word...?)

Thank you everyone for your support in reading my work. All comments are appreciated- even ones for improvement- so dont be shy! :D Also, I have a question... how do you chose a beta reader? Is it like someone I chose or what? I was looking at them and there are SO many. Its a little over whelming so if any of you readers are registered betas and would like to be my beta then a thousand and one thank yous! I would really appreciate it! You can just leave your answer in the comments if your answer is yes! X3

* * *

Hellfire

Chapter 7

The door to the resturant closed loudly, so Sanji and Ace stopped their conversation as the captain rounded the corner, shutting off his phone. As he slipped it into the pocket of his dark gray jeans and shrugged off his huge coat, Ace couldn't help but think of a mostly naked Smoker in his living room. His heart sped up traitorously as the older man sat down.

"If we're gonna eat, then it's gotta be now. Tashigi called and wants me back at the station." Ace could hear a slightly guarded and cold tone to Smokers words as he eyed Sanji. Was Smoker...jealous? Ace smirked internally at the idea.

"Sure!" Sanji said, cutting off Ace's thoughts. "What do you guys want to eat?"

Smoker eyed the menu. "Something..." his grey eyes flicked to Ace's, then back to the menue, "...hot."

Heat flamed across Ace's cheeks as he hid behind his own menu. "Soup,then?" Sanji asked Smoker, completely oblivious. "Yeah. The special of the day should do," he replied. "Ace," Sanji said, "I'll just get you the usual. I know even after all these years your appetite hasn't changed."

Ace just nodded in agreement as he subtly watched Smoker pull up the arms of his long sleeve shirt up to his elbows. There was something different about Smoker now then earlier. He must have gotten some good news from Tashigi.

The food was done quickly, but perfectly as always, and set down on the table before them. Smoker looked up from his soup to Sanji "Can I have a tray for this?" The older man asked, gesturing to the cigar in his mouth and toke one last drag. He blew it out slowly as Sanji placed an ash try in front of him, and Ace couldn't help but stare. After the captain rubbed the death stick out and began to eat his food, he realized that he had never seen Smoker eat before. In fact, Ace didn't even know what kind of foods Smoker liked.

He felt a little bad-okay, a lot- that he had been avoiding Smoker. He had spent most of his time with Tashigi, but it wasn't the same. She was a nice woman,sure, but he couldn't banter her without her wigging out, nor do things that could strain his injuries. Smoker might be a bastard, but he didn't try to tell Ace how to his job or how to live his life, acting like a mother hen.

But Ace _refused _to be a slut, especially when it seemed to bring Lucci perverse pleasure. He hated himself for acting like a dick, but it was like some line had been crossed. That much was clear when Smoker had kissed Ace earlier. Okay, okay, it had 'rescue breathing', but the raven was pretty sure that rescue breathing wasn't supposed to feel like that. his feelings were starting to get mixed up in this mission, and Ace could not allow that to happen. Last time he had let his heart rule over his head, everything had ended in disaster.

He could tell Smoker was confused over Ace's actions since the other night, but the man hadn't done anything to push Ace to explain or try to coax him to spill the beans. It was like he didn't care or was giving the raven space. If it was the latter, then it was kind of say what he wanted on_ his_ time was an option that Ace hadn't had in a long time, but it was the former...he didn't like the feeling in his chest when he thought about it.

"Are you going to stare off into space or eat your damn food?" Smokers rough voice snapped Ace out of his dream world. He immediately started to eat the delicious food Sanji had made him.

"Thanks, Sanji," he mumbled around the food in his mouth. "You're the best!"

The blond chef just smiled and walked back to the kitchen. A "let me know if you need anything else," came over his shoulder as the door to the kitchen closed.

"So," Ace looked discretely at Smoker, who was dunking some hot bread into his soup. "What did Tashigi find?" He asked, deciding on a neutral subject.

"That she found something interesting from the fire records." was all he said.

Ace nodded hesitantly. That was vague. "Are you thinking that are fires are all connected somehow? Even the one from today?"

Smoker sipped his water before answering, "Yeah."

The younger man sighed, irritated. "Are you going to elaborate?"

Smoker turned his his head and looked Ace dead in the eye. "Are you going tell me why your sneaking confidential information out behind my back?"

Ace's fork froze in the air halfway to his mouth. "W-what? what are you talking about?" Oh shit, he thought, did he know about Lucci?

"If you think that i don't know about Teach, I am already on top of it. I'm not stupid, Ace, and if this partnership is going to work between us then there has to be trust. If you gotta gather info the hard way then I'm not going to stop you. You have your own informants and this city is familiar to you, but if i catch you going behind my back or doing something illegal, even in the name of justice, it will be last thing you will ever do."

Ace's pounding heart slowed down, relief almost making him sigh. "Am I clear, brat?" Smoker asked him. The raven nodded dumbly. Smoker didn't talk to him the rest of the meal, but the silence was neither comfortable or uncomfortable. It just was there.

Ace sat and quietly ate his food, cursing that Smoker probably knew about his connection to the Straw Hat crew, but hopefully not about Luffy, until Smoker cleared his throat and stood up. They both paid for their meals-even when Sanji insisted that the meal was free- and then headed back to the there, Smoker and listened to Tashigi's hypothesis, and Smoker added his own piece of information from the earlier event with Ussop.

"I suspected that Dolflamingo was working with Crocodile, but I doubt that the union will hold when things go south at the drop," the captain said as he studied some papers on his desk that his assistant had placed there.

The said woman nodded, "But if its true, and the fire are all connected, then the Grand Line running through Chicago will be put in jeopardy. Everybody and their brother is going to start scrambling to buy and sell the goods that are left, making Crocodile and Dolflamingo the main suppliers!"

Ace thought about Tashigi's words. The Grand Line was _the _source of import and export transportation for all legal and illegal transactions. It stretched across the entire globe, even to the most remote and secluded islands. If you could own even_ part _of the Grand Line, then you own part of the world. The seven warlords were the men who owned the most of the Gran Line, and Government owned the warlords.

The stops on the Grand Line were numerous and difficult to navigate without the proper equipment. Log poses- devices that latch on to to magnetic fields of the next stop- were the only way to make your way through the labyrinth of stops. Different shipments took different routes to make it difficult to track or ambush the cargo ships at their stops, only the warlords and the government having a list of all the stops. These stops were dotted all over the world, too numerous to count, to traveling the same route twice in a row was almost impossible. If too many stops in the Grand Line were shut down, then the operation would be ruined, the poses having nothing to latch onto.

The only gang to ever conquer the Grand Line and live to tell about it was Gol D. Rodger's gang. But that was over 20 years ago, and after he died, the Grand Line was divided among the seven warlords to avoid fighting and battles for power. If what Tashigi said was true, if Dolflamingo and Crocodile were working together to throw off the the Grand Line production and monopolize it, then Chicago was heading toward some bad shit unless it was stopped.

Ace's pondering was interrupted as he was brought back to the present when the captain wanted to speak again. "This is a lot bigger then I was expecting," He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger.

Ace leaned against the desk, propping up his unbandaged hand to cup his cheek. "Will all your stuff be safe here? Knowing Crocodile and his involvement with Baroque Works, its safe to say he knows we are onto him. "

Smoker looked at him with surprise, probably shocked that Ace has thought of something so logical. The raven snorted internally. What a jackass.

Tashigi spoke again, "I'll take them, Captain,"

"No," Smoker interrupted.

"But, Sir-" "I said no, Tashigi! That's final!" The harshness of his tone surprised Ace. From what he could tell, even in the short time he had worked the precinct, Captain Smoker doted on his over eager assistant. His tone implied to Ace there was a reason behind it...

"I'll take it, Smokie," Ace said.

The captain looked at him through half lidded eyes, the man looking like he was going to fall asleep at any minute. Finally he asked, "Why would it be safer with you then with Tashigi?"

"Because two reasons, "Ace replied, "1. Crocodile most likely has her place under constant surveillance. He'll know the second she is out of the house or alone and not miss the opportunity to dispose of her or any evidence she may have, and 2. because I happen to know some pretty influential people myself and can get my place to be monitored. That stuff couldn't have have a better place to be stored."

The ravens throat was a little dry as he swallowed. The points were true, more or less, but it would give him another opportunity to move forward with the mission. he had wasted enough time pussy footing around. It would give Smoker an excuse to come over to his place, and keep Lucci off of his back and out of his life for a little while. Not that Ace was afraid of Lucci or anything like that.

Smoker didn't seemed convinced. "Even so, I think that it would probably be safer to make copies. If the bastards don't know how there are any copies, then they wouldn't know what to do for a little while at least."

"You're the boss," Ace said absently, his thought reeling about his own problems again.

After a few moments Smoker nodded as if making a decision. "Alright. we'll make the copies and move the papers tomorrow to my house and Ace's apartment. Tashigi, I want you to make two copies and take them to my house. I'll meet you there." The raven watched as Smoker stood up. "I'm- ah-going to go back to the plant to do a final area sweep. Now that we-ah- know what we're looking for, it should be easier." His words were broken by two yawns as he stretched his injured shoulder carefully, then headed back out to the fire site from the morning.

Ace got up as well and put on his coat and knitted hat to go as well, but not with Smoker. He had some investigating of his own to do. His breath came out in heavy steam clouds as he walked toward the site of the fire at the apartment building. While he walked, he thought about Smokers words to him in the restaurant, panic starting to set in. What if Smoker knew of his connection to Luffy? To CP9? The captain was a man with many faces; he could be annoying as hell, frustrating, too, like he was to Ace most of the time, but then be compassionate and understanding like he was to Tashigi. Either way, the man was smart and sneaky.

He thought back to Ussop when Smoker had trusted his judgment about the long nosed man with out batting an eyelash. Ace was unsure what to think about that, but he suspected that Smoker knew that the raven was somehow previously acquainted with the long nosed man. Damn it! It didn't matter if Ussop _had_ been the one to start the fire, Ace would've still bailed him out. Then his mind skirted to Sanji. Smoker obviously knew more then he was letting on. he didn't even ask how he knew Sanji, let alone how much he had eavesdropped on their conversation.

Smoker was the enemy, he was a prick, and he was ... well, Ace had to admit if Smoker wasn't a cop, then the raven would have either killed the man or bedded him by now. He sighed at perverted, bipolar mind. He was pretty sure when he had woken up from his narcoleptic episode and had stopped Smoker from walking away he was going to jump the man right then and there, but thank God that Tashigi had busted in through the door. GAH! He couldn't afford to get attracted to Smoker. Why would he even be attracted to a man like Smoker? Sure, he had the body of a god, and his smile and laugh were things that made Ace's heart speed up, but he was a sarcastic, moody bastard that pissed Ace off beyond belief.

Was it because Ace was finally starting to crack under all the pressure? The memories of what happened to his nakama happening to Luffy and his friends haunted his mind and strengthed his resolve. He needed to get close to Smoker and get the fucking information so he could move on with his life. This was his last job and then he was out for good. He was going to retire to the Bahamas and be lazy, never going to have worry about this shit again. The contract expired at the beginning of next summer and then he was a free man. Fuck Lucci and fuck the World Government and their dogs.

Glad his mind was made up, he made his way around the corner and to the building. Blinking away the snow that was softly starting to fall from the gray sky, his boots crunched loudly over the glass and charred dabrie from the skeletal building. It made him think of Brook and he allowed himself a small smile.

The building was black and surrounded by yellow caution tape, the smell of smoke still hanging in the air. Ace ducked under the tape and carefully walked over to the entrance of the building, flashing his badge at people that asked him who he was. He made his way up the temporary stairs that had been put in place for repair work and eventually made his way back to the floor and room he found the boy. The room was black, but generally in tact- except for the window of course. Ace made his way-quite acrobatically he might add- around the huge hole in the floor. He glared briefly at the pipe dangling from the wall, wishing it would disappear, then walked to the closet where he had found the boy.

The door was still off his hinges, but Ace was interested what was inside the closet. He looked at the corner of the molding and squinted, trying to see if the nagging feeling from his night mares were just fucking with his memories from that day and were screwing with him, or if they were right. He took a small intake of breath. Yes, the was charred black, but Ace's expert eyes could see the faint mark underneath the soot. It was the mark of a Grand Line drop off spot all right. Ace groaned internally. So, it was true then. Crocodile and Dolflamingo were flushing out the Grand Line. He found himself opening his phone and listening to the dial tone before he realized it.

"Hello?" Tashigi's voice crackled over the phone line.

"Hey, where's Smokie?" he asked without ceremony.

"It's_ Captain Smoker _to you, Mr. Portgas. Something came up, and he left his cell behind again. What's up?"

Ace hesitated before, "Oh nothing, really, but I just found something that he will probably interesting."

"Oh," she replied, no suspicion in her voice, but another kind of tone Ace didn't want to figure out, "Well, I'll tell him you called."

"Okay, thanks. Well, I'm heading home, so tell him I called or don't. I don't care. See ya tomorrow," Ace said quickly, then hung up. _God, I'm so pathetic_, he whined to himself and shut his phone off. He was like a damn child, eager to please his parents with a fucking good report card or something. He needed a drink.

It was getting dark so he decided to pay a visit to Shakey's Rip Off Bar, knowing that even for her over priced drinks, she had some pretty strong shit. He hopped on a buss a rode it to the red light district, then got off and walked till he reached his destination When he got there, he pulled up a bar stool and rapped his knuckles on the counter of the bar. "Hey, Shakey!" He greeted to the dark haired woman behing the counter. She smiled and asked what he would like., "Three shots of your strongest whiskey, please." Ace practically ripped off his coat and threw it across the stool next next to him. A moment later Shakey placed his three glasses in front of him. Ace gave a lopsided smile to the woman, and raised the first glass in salute. "Bottoms up!"

* * *

The raven wobbled up to the front door of his apartment and turned to wave to the retreating car that brought him home. "Bye, Johny!" he called drunkenly, "Thanks again, man!" The said man honked the horn in response and turned the corner.

Ace laughed and had try a few times to stick his key into the lock, too drunk to notice that it was already unlocked. He stumbled into the apartment as the door gave, making Ace giggle helplessly. His eyes squinted as light flooded into the room, being turned on by someone one other then him. The giddiness left him, but his unsteadiness didn't, the room was spinning and seeing double figures of everything made him have a episode of vertigo.

Finally his vision straightened, he saw on his couch, with Sinbad on his lap, Smoker. "What the hell are you doing in here?" Ace slurred angrily.

The captain ignored him and stood. Ace could see his face was flushed with anger, either that or the older man was drunk himself.

" Where the fuck have you been, Portgas? Its almost 2:30 in the morning!" the man demanded, avoiding Ace's question with one of his own. "I've been calling for hours and you din't pick up once! I-" Smokers rough voice broke as he clutched a piece of paper in his hand. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, running a hand through this hair.

Ace's gaze was traitorously traveling up and down the captains body. His coat was thrown over the back of the couch, and was still wearing the same tight shirt he was wearing earlier. When the man lifted his arms, the material of his shirt bunched up and showed a peak of the washboard abs Ace knew were under there. His eyes jerked up to Smokers face as the man spoke.

"I was worried," He was saying, "Crocodile sent me a note that I found at my house,and then Tashigi said you had called when I was out, and after hours of not answering you phone, you dumb ass, thought that- I just can't let another partner get hurt because of me-"

Whatever else the captain had planned on rambling was cut off by Ace's mouth slamming over his.

* * *

Okay guys! How was that? I'm sooo sorry for not updating! Life is just so crazy with my college finals and all that coming and going. Please remember to comment, you beautiful people! (^.^)


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own a single thing!

Sexyshewolf: I'm so glad that you love this story! I just loved the idea of Ace and Smoker as a couple! I hope you like this next chapter! ;)

Okay, guys. This chapter has the shit you've been waiting for! It gonna be chalk full of yaoi, so if your squeamish about this sort of thing, then your gonna want to skip over this chapter ( and the next one too). You have been properly warned! ;) hehehehe

* * *

Hellfire

Chapter 8

Smoker's words were swallowed as Ace's lips kissed his. His mouth opened in surprise and the raven took advantage by shoving his tongue in Smoker's hot cavern, entangling their tongues in a dance for dominance.

The captain grunted, but automatically kissed the man back roughly. His arms slid under Ace's coat and around his waist, pulling him against Smoker's chest.

He felt Ace's slender fingers tangle in his thick hair, yanking his head into a different angle to kiss him better. The raven tasted like cinnamon whiskey, his soft mouth working fervently against Smoker's.

Smoker shoved the younger man against the nearest wall when Ace's hot hands slipped under his shirt, running them up and down his back and sides and over his ribs. He let out a shuddered breath when the raven's warm lips kissed the spot where his jaw connected his neck. Smoker was sure Ace could feel his pulse pounding under his lips. God, how he had wanted this.

The captain growled in pleasure as he freckled brat planted soft kisses down his neck and bit his collar bone, sucking at the skin between his teeth. His hands tightly held Ace by the hips, pressing them closer together. It wasn't until Smoker had shoved a knee in between Ace's legs and licked the shell of his ear, causing the raven to let out a breathy moan, that he realized what he was doing.

He shoved himself away from Ace like he had been shocked, breathing heavily. Everywhere the fucking brat had touched burned, leaving fiery trails along Smoker's skin. His cock throbbed, and his hands ached to touch Ace's creamy skin, but he made himself stay where he was.

"We-I-I can't do this," he tried to say firmly, but his voice sounded hoarse and uncertain even to his own ears.

His head was buzzing with want, his reaction to Ace's advances were unnerving him. Did he really want the raven that much?

As he watched Ace smile lazily at him, slipping his coat slowly, and then draping himself on the couch to look up at him through half lidded, lust filled eyes, Smoker realized yes, he wanted Portgas D. Ace. He wanted him more then he had ever wanted any man or woman in his life.

The freckled brat's face was pink with drink and his movements were sluggish and jerky, but his body called to Smoker, and his lips asked to be kissed.

The captain used the rest of his energy into self control to grab his coat and say, "I'vegottogo," he said quickly, then he raced out the door and to his parked car down the street.

The cold night air hurt hi lungs, but cleared his head. He leaned against the car, his forearms resting against the glass of the care window. Unexpectedly the sound of a sob escaped his throat.

Smoker's heart pounded painfully against his ribs as tears threatened to fall. God, he hadn't felt like this since Hina. The feelings he was experiencing were beyond confusing. He had been so resolved earlier to use Ace, deciding that he was not to be trusted, but the second he thought the raven was in danger he had freaked out.

He yanked the crumpled note he had shoved in his pocket sometime during his and Ace's...exchange. _We are watching you and your partner. Stop or else._

He had gotten that note the night after the first fire. Even though the threat wasn't enough to stop Smoker, he had been intending to ask Ace about it, and find out where the raven stood. Or rather that had been his purpose, but then then he kept putting it off, but then... well, Ace's disappearance had been worrying. Smoker was man enough to admit that, but did he feel the way he did about Acebecause the raven reminded him so much of Hina, his first partner in the field and in life? Or was it something else, like the pain they seemed to share about their pasts?

Either way, the attraction wasn't healthy and the shitty brat had only come on to him because he was drunk. Smoker wasn't going to take advantage of a man in that state, especially if that man was someone he was going to see every day in the work place.

he put a fist to his lips. God, he must be losing it. His feelings seemed to be on his sleeve for the last week and half. the captain shook his head and got into his car, driving back to his empty house. He needed a good nights sleep, and he'd deal with the freckled brat's reaction tomorrow.

* * *

It turned out that the next morning Ace was so hungover all he could do was groan and clutch his fingers in his shaggy black hair.

"That's what you get for being a drunkard," Smoker scolded, dreading the inevitable.

"Shut up, you bastard," The raven groaned again as he replied. "I can't even blink without my head killing me. Everything after the bar is hazey..."his voice trailed off as he swallowed some pills and took a drink from a water bottle.

The liquid was a slightly tinted yellow color.

"That better be fucking white grape juice, " the captain growled.

"Yeah, yeah," Ace waved a hand dismissively as he laid his head down.

"Ace," he sighed, just biting the bullet, "about last night-"

"Oh, yeah," Ace shot his head up, but regretted it, massaging his temples, "Yesterday I went back to the burned apartment building." He tossed his phone to Smoker. "I took some pictures..."

The captain looked at the photos, his eyes widened in surprise.

" You actually had the initiative to go back to a crime scene, and actually found something?"

He then shook his head, not wanting to get off topic. Either Ace didn't remember or he didnt want to talk about last night. Smoker didn't blame him, but he was never one to skirt around his problems.

He placed Ace's phone down, "Ace," the seriousness tone made the said man look, well squint, at the captain. "About last night, do you remember anything about it?"

Ace slowly shook his head, but a blush dusted across his freckles. "Not really. It's all pretty dim."

Smoker rubbed a hand over his face. It looked like he would have to do this the hard way.

"Well, I'm sorry, but we... something happened..." God, why was this so hard? "Well, we kissed."

Bluntness was the only way to go in this situation. Ace paled, his usually creamy skin pasty.

"You mean that was real?" his voice full of embarrassment, and horror, but Smoker was surprised when he continued, "I'm so sorry. I've been told I'm a clingy, indiscriminate drunk." He covered his face in shame. "God..." He mumbled.

The captain didn't know what to expect from Ace, but an apology wasn't it.

"Well, I didn't exactly stop you..." he scratched at he back of neck awkwardly. The fact that they were even having this kind of conversion was beyond weird. "I just wanted to say forget about it and not let it make us...weird."

Ace shrugged carefully,"Aren't we already weird?"

His teasing tone put Smoker at ease.

"Yeah,"Smoker agreed and dropped the subject.

The raven;however, was quiet and solemn the rest of the day, but whether that was from his hangover or from their discussion, Smoker couldn't tell.

* * *

That evening they moved all of copies Tashigi made. The last box was carried into Ace's apartment, getting set up in his spare bedroom.

"Are you sure your okay with this?"Smoker asked, his voice full of skepticism.

Ace rolled his eyes. "Yes, Smokie, I'm sure. I've been in some pretty sketchy situations before, and I'm not about to let scumbags like Crocodile, and Blackbeard fuck with peoples lives if there is anything I can do about it." The raven assured Smoker after he had showed him the note and explained the danger. "i appreciate your concern, and find it cute, but I'll be fine."

The older man snorted as he let out a cloud of smoke.

"I see that hand of yours is getting better. Next time think before you barbecue it, yeah?"

"Yeah, "the raven smiled lightly, wiggling his fingers. "At least i can move it now, although it itches like hell."

His laugh warmed the captains face. He couldn't help but think of those hands on his body, in his hair, on his-

"Well, thats good for now," Ace straightened after having to bend over to fix a stack of boxes.

He wiped his hands gently on shorts carefully before placing them on his narrow hips. His shorts rode low on his hips, so low on his hips that it should be against the law, briefly drawing Smokers attention to the v mark that lead down into the ravens underwear before he snapped his eyes up in embarrassment.

"Hey, old man, want some dinner?" Ace asked, heading out of the bedroom, either oblivious to Smoker's awkwardness, or choosing to ignore it, and walked in to the kitchen.

"You can cook?"Smoker asked in disbelief, trying to distract his perverted mind.

"Well, a little, yeah," came the reply.

"That's not very reassuring," He retorted, but walked into the living room and sat down.

Not even five minutes later smoke billowed from the direction of the kitchen with Ace's exclamation of "FUCK!"

The captain jumped up from petting Ace's cat, and practically flew to the kitchen. Inside he found Ace trying to put out a small fire that had ignited in a pan.

"Gah!" he yelped and finally shoved the burnt food under the water from the tap. The cold water hit the hot pan with a loud hiss.

"You are so fucking hopeless. I'm surprised you are still alive," Smoker chided, shoving Ace out of the way.

He grabbed a new pan, then the flour, eggs, milk,and salt to make pancakes. Ace didn't protest, but hopped up on the counter and watched the older man pancakes themselves were done in no time, but he had to make alot because the skinny brat ate like a fucking horse, but he didn't mind.

"I didn't know you could cook," He said around a mouthful of pancakes as Smoker started to wash up the pans before getting himself some food, too.

"Well, not everyone has their own personal 4 star chef to cook them meals. Some of us have to learn,' he grunted, then added as an after thought, "Plus when you have a wife that hates to cook, it's pretty much learn or die." He stiffened as he realized what he had let slip.

He heard Ace sputter and choke. "You- you're married?!" he exclaimed when he recovered.

Turning back to Ace with some more food, he poured a generous amount of syrup on his pancakes before replying curtly, "Was married. She... she was- she died."

Painful, horrifying images came to the front of his mind before he pushed them away.

He felt the ravens dark eyes bore into him as he ate, avoiding to look at anything other then his food. It was a few moments before either of them spoke.

"That sucks," was all Ace said, but Smoker knew that Ace knew the pain of losing loved ones as well. No words could describe the sorrow.

"Yeah," he sipped a cup of hot coffee that he had made as he prepared dinner. Then, "How the hell did I roped into cooking _and_ doing the dishes when _you_ invited_ me_?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Ace shrugged and hopped off the counter. He opened mouth, "Listen, Smoker-" he was cut off when his cell rang his pocket. The raven sighed and pulled out the phone and answered it with out looking at the ID. "Hello?"he asked lazily, but after a moment Smoker saw his whole body tense up.

Curious, Smoker continued to eat, feigning disinterest, while he watched the exchanged. The brat was standing ramrod straight, his face dark with anger, but his tone expressionless before he turned away.

"Yes," he said coldly to the other voice on the line. "Yes, sir. I understand. Don't worry about it-NO!" His quiet voice suddenly gained volume, almost panicked, but then dropped again, "No. That's not necessary. Alright, yes, until then."

The older man was rinsing his plate off when the raven turned back around.

"Trouble?" he asked casually.

"No," Ace sighed tiredly, but clenched his hands into fists by his side. "Just an annoyance."

Smoker only hummed in agreement as he dried the plate, and hunted through the cabinets until he found the right one, and slipped it inside along with Ace's. When he turned around, the brat had his head in his hands, his back facing Smoker. But even from behind he could see Ace's shoulders shake with repressed sobs. Smoker was surprised, but cautiously approached his partner, reaching out hesitantly, and patted his shoulder a little awkwardly.

"What is it?" he asked dutifully, half hoping Ace would tell him, the other half telling him to get lost.

"I'm just so tired!" he exclaimed, a sob catching in his throat. "I'm so sick of myself! I'm so damn weak that I can't-I couldn't even protect the people who matter the most to me! I just want to die!"

Misery was pouring out of his words, and Smoker was frozen in shock. What the hell? Ace buried his head in his arms, curling in on himself. He looked defeated, and Smoker didn't like it.

" Hey, you damn brat, what the fuck are you going about? Where the hell did this come from?"

He gripped Ace's shoulder and turned the man around to face him. The raven's gray t shirt was spotted with tears, his nose pink. Dark hair curtained Smoker from Ace's face, blocking his eyes. Without thinking, the older man ran his fingers through the silky stands, brushing them away.

He sucked in a breath at the pain that filled the face and big, dark eyes before him. Ace's eyes refused to meet Smoker's. his bottom lip trembling. With one of his hands still on Ace's shoulder, he placed a finger under his chin, forcing the raven to look at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked again, this time really wanting to know. His voice was soft, and gentle. He recognized the look of torment on the young mans face.

He watched as the other man tried to collect himself, trying to patch the cracks in his fuck-the-world, carefree persona.

"Nothing," he lied, "I'm just having a really bad day. I had another attack after you left last night..."

The grip of Smoker's hand tightened. "Bullshit. Was it that prick on the phone? Do you need my help to kick his ass?"

His words were serious, Ace just smiled sadly, teas still clinging to his dark lashes.

He leaned his forehead on Smoker's shoulder. "No, that's alright." he sniffed, letting out a weak laugh.

He froze again as Ace wrapped his long arms around Smoker's neck, squeezing him tight. After only a moment of hesitation, Smoker wrapped his own arms around Ace's waist. When Ace looked up at him in surprise, their noses almost bumped, their breath mingling. It was then that Smoker threw aside his jumbled, confusing thoughts and gently pressed his lips against the ravens.

Immediately the said man kissed him back, arms tightening around his neck. Smoker ran his tongue over Ace's bottom lip. This caused the young man's mouth to open, letting the older man's tongue inside to glide over his. Smoker let out a deep throated groan as he kissed the dark haired man harder. Damn everything. He couldn't fight these feelings right now. He had so much pent energy, it threatened to engulf him, as he kissed the man in his arms.

The taste of sugar and syrup filled his senses as he and Ace kissed. Hands found their way under Smokers coat, pushing it off of his broad shoulders. It fell to the floor with a thud before Smoker lifted Ace onto the the counter. The raven wrapped his legs around his waist, pulling him closer while he grabbed a fist full of Smoker's thick hair, kissing him hungerly.

Pulling back, Smoker panted heavily as Ace's fingers traced the dipps in his muscles, and gently taking Smoker's bottom lip between his teeth and sucking it. Smoker loved the feel of Ace's hands running over hi body, responding with soft groans and squeezes to the ravens ass to encourage him to continue.

Ace planted kisses along Smoker's jaw and the corners of his mouth, making the older man ach with want.

"God," he beathed against Ace's mouth as he captured his lips in a passionate kiss, "Why you? You annoy the hell out of me," another kiss to the raven's neck, "You're the most mouthiest, reckless brat I know," and another kiss to the other man's collor bone as he slid his hands up Ace's shirt and played with the ravens hard nipples, "But I can't stop thinking about you."

Ace let out a sexy moan as Smoker bit his neck and sucked.

"Good...GOD! Good taste ...maybe?" Ace answered brokenly as Smoker bit his shirt and teased his nipples through the fabric.

"Mmm.." Smoker hummed in mock contemplation, "Not likely," he whispered, his breath tickling the ravens now wet skin.

Ace shivered, but slide closer to Smoker, pressing their hardened members together, eliciting a moan from them both. Every sound that Ace made added to the heat in Smoker'sgroin, driving him crazy. Finally he couldn't take Iit anymore. He lifted Ace by his fantastic ass, and carried him to the bedroom.

* * *

BWHAHAHA! The suspense! I'm sorry,but it seemed like the perfect place to stop.


End file.
